Bears

At first a dozen wood pigeons or so flit about, feed on the ground, and fly in and out of trees. At this rate, the wildlife experience at Alutaguse is costing me 10 euros per bird. Then two hours of sleep after a late night, and a racoon-dog shows up. A tree stump has been covered in seeds, and this foxlike native of East Asia inches closer, sniffing the air for danger.

Shortly after 8pm a young brown bear enters the stage, appearing swiftly from out of the forest. After wandering around a pond set among birch trees, the show takes off, as larger bears appear. A young Dutchman sitting next to me takes hundreds of photos on serious equipment. I content myself with snaps on an iPhone 17e, and using my eyes.

NaTourEst has been running tours to a hide in Alutaguse since 2009. Against forestry pressure in the area, the company bought 86.2 hectares of land in 2017, of which 72.7 ha is forest, and opened two new hides in addition to the first. A year later part of the area was established as a national park.

On entering the hide at around 4pm we are not to go outside until 8am the following morning. We find the accommodation basic but clean, the seats comfortable, and a clear view into a grassy field with a pond in it, some birch trees, and forest at the back. There is no guarantee of seeing bears or anything else at this site, however, the tour operators assure us the probability on any one night is close to 100%.

A panel informs there were around 1,000 bears in Estonia in 2023, a big improvement on around 20 in the 1920s. While the Estonian forests are full of wild bears as well as wolves, lynx and elk, among larger animals, visitors rarely if ever see them. For Lonely Planet guide writer Angelo Zinna, the bears at Alutaguse are a special experience, and an entire article is devoted to them in the 2024 edition.

We sit transfixed at the ever-changing view as the sun sets and the long twilight sets in. I can almost hear British wildlife documentary presenter David Attenborough’s words, “and here in Alutaguse, in the northeastern forests of Estonia, the bears are safe … for now.”

And they are. This is an area of national parks and some patches of private land in between, in one of Estonia’s more forested areas of land. I learn later there is a war on between forestry and conservation interests, with central government caught in between. At this stage the area of Estonia in forests is in gradual decline, as is the total area of protected land.

At 135 euros per person per night, the NaTourEst experience is beyond the reach of most Estonians. So, raising awareness of the plight of Estonia’s forest wildlife is no easy task. Especially as some of these animals wander into areas of human habitation, spreading fear as they go. All I can say is seeing the bears is among the highlights of travel in Estonia, and that this Baltic country is very fortunate to have many of the large animals of Eurasia.