Rediscover the Wild at British Columbia’s Indigenous Resorts

Have you ever wanted to track grizzlies or the elusive Spirit Bear? (Of course you have!) Do you want to photograph humpbacks casting their flukes into the air or feel the energy of wild horses? (Who wouldn’t?) You can in British Columbia. 

Indigenous tourism is growing in the province, to the tune of nearly $2 billion of Canada’s GDP, and Indigenous-owned lodges and resorts make it possible to experience and explore the wild lands that Canada’s First Nations have called home for millennia. Here, you can disconnect in a remote wilderness and experience wildlife up-close—without giving up the luxuries of a warm bed and fantastic meals.

The award-winning Klahoose Wilderness Resort sits on the Nation’s ancestral land on the Homfray Channel, between the Salish Sea and the vast coastal wilderness just south of the Great Bear Rainforest. Visitors will enjoy luxurious rooms and elevated meals. Indigenous guides will lead guests to find grizzlies feasting on salmon. Guests can grab kayaks and go look for petroglyphs on rock faces, or hike trails. They’ll even arrange heli-adventures to snow-covered peaks and glacial walks.

Nemiah Valley Lodge & Cabins is owned and operated by the Xeni Gwet’in community of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation. Here, you can experience B.C.’s wild horses amid untouched natural splendor. They offer wellness getaways and outdoor adventures, like hikes over rugged terrain and wildlife watching. Nemiah is in the Chilcotin Region of the province, and to keep the wilderness pristine, they do not allow commercial logging, mining, dam construction, or road building in the Nemiah Aboriginal Wilderness Preserve.

Set within the Kitasoo Xai’xais Traditional Territory, Spirit Bear Lodge takes you to the wild of the Great Bear Rainforest and employs 10 percent of the Klemtu community. They offer marine life and grizzly bear tourism, as well as indigenous cultural tourism. They’re known for their tours to see the famous Spirit Bear (Kermode bears)—a rare black bear with white and cream-colored fur.

Located on the archipelago of Haida Gwaii (the “Galapagos of the North”) along B.C.’s coast, Haida House at Tllaal offers immersive hikes and cultural tours that take you into the past of the Haida Nation, along with comfortable lodge rooms and gourmet meals. The pristine surroundings are home to as many as twenty species of whales and dolphins, as well as 1.5 million seabirds.

This floating lodge—yes, you heard that right—on the Knight Inlet in the Great Bear Rainforest. Knight Inlet Lodge is owned by five partner First Nations: the Da’naxda’xw Awaetlala, Mamalilikulla, Tlowitsis, Wei Wai Kum, and K’ómoks. Knight offers whale watching and grizzly bear tours, with the goal of wildlife and land conservation.

When you stay at an Indigenous-owned wilderness resort, you are supporting the conservation of both wildlife and indigenous culture. On top of that, you get to disconnect from the city, and reconnect with the wild. You might even get to see some cool bears without being eaten.