by Hans van Klinken
Barb's Tuckamore Lodge is a magnificent first-class wilderness accommodation that almost entirely is engineered in Scandinavian style. The lodge was built on the banks of Little Pond and fits beautifully in the landscape. After a huge renovation which started in 2004, Tuckamore lodge has turned into one of the best looking lodges I ever have seen. And because the lodge is accessible by road, it allows for outdoor activities year round. It is no wonder that Outside Magazine has recognized Tuckamore Lodge as one of the six best lodges for encountering Canada's great outdoor activities. The lodge is situated in the north-eastern tip of the pristine wilderness of the great Northern Peninsula.'
The exact location is about 2.5 kilometres from the small village of Main Brook, and just a twenty-five minute drive away from St. Anthony airport. The area is renowned for its abundant populations of moose, caribou, and black bear. Black bears and the elusive even lynx are more difficult to spot and you will need some wildlife experience or help from a professional guide to find them. But rest assured at early morning and late evening you should always succeed in locating moose with your camera or binoculars. The Caribou we discovered either from a far distance in small herds on the barren, or the occasional lone individual encountered on a long wilderness hike to fish remote pools. With Caribou we learned they seem to always show up at places and times when you least expected them.
The ability to stay at Barb's and sight sees by car or boat around the tip of Newfoundland's great Northern Peninsula has been one of our most favourite none-fishing activities. The shoreline is hypnotic, even mystical at times, and by just following the coastal network of roads freely you will pass the many historic fishing villages and breathtaking landscapes. The photographic possibilities are simply unlimited and unbelievable. I found that many of these roads dead-end at the coastline and most tourists generally bypass them. I can assure you that they are absolutely worth the time and effort to discover and explore. We have driven our favourite roads on more than one occasion and each time we ran into a new experience or adventure. It can easily happen as you pass the nest of an osprey four or five times before you really notice it. You find that you have been busy watching too many other things.
The good news about access is you do not require a four by four and when driving carefully you can navigate most of these roads with your normal car as well. I vividly recall how we might first observe whales and icebergs before getting near the end of a road. There are other times when you will spot an iceberg from a distance and try to find a road which will get you closer. Occasionally they may be hidden by the landscape and your first glimpse of them will be just around a turn in the road. In summertime the coastal waters are home to many species of whales and sometimes in large numbers. Personally we have spotted most whales in the month of July very close to the shore and have not experienced this later in the season. The entire coastal region is the summer residence to millions of seabirds and many are building their nests on small islands and rock croppings offshore so their eggs and chicks are protected from the predators that inhabit the main island.
From the east coast of Labrador to Newfoundland's southern most eastern shore, you find yourself in Iceberg Alley, and the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula is in the centre of it all. Most of the icebergs that you will see in this area have been calved from glaciers along the Greenland coast the previous year. Scientist estimate that between 35,000 up to 40,000 reasonably sized icebergs calve annually in Greenland, but less then a thousand of them will make it as far south as St. John's. It is interesting to know the glacial ice that icebergs are made of may be more than 15,000 years old. The numbers of Icebergs varies enormously year by year and most experts say that the highest numbers and the biggest ones are usual seen in spring and early summer. We have been very fortunate to observe this and take some very spectacular photographs of icebergs on our sightseeing trips.
A short distance from Tuckamore Lodge you also will find special attractions such as L'anse aux Meadows - a 1,000 year old Viking settlement, and the Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve - one of the most important botanical sites on the Island of Newfoundland. These are just a few of the many outdoor possibilities that exist at Tuckamore lodge. For more information visit the none-fishing Tuckamore website.
