Wildlife View Blog

After Vancouver and whistler i went to Victoria and Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island – mainly for wildlife watching.

The Vancouver island has lots of wildlife. There is the biggest cougar/mountain lion/puma population i know of, there are lots of black bears, moose, elk, much more.

Some tips on where to stay on Vancouver Island:

1. Many people camp here. So a good idea would be to rent a camper and travel around the island. But: Book early since its very popular. For camping I can especially recommend Abbotsford in the mid of the island. There are some campgrounds north of it where bear watching is supposed to be good. At the river you also guaranteed will see eagles. And there are (very rarely) cougars around as well.
2. At campbell river you can also see blackbear and mainly north of it you can rarely see cougars.
3. At Telegraph Cove you can book boat trips to Knight inlet to see Grizzlies (pics of that in another post). And there are a lot of blackbears around the Telegraph Cove area.
4. Tofino is surfer town. But there is also whale watching, and looking at the whale report app (more of that later) there occasionly are fin whales which (at least in canada) are rare. They are the 2nd biggest whale species and are gigantic.
5. Cowichan Bay has north of the harbour a place with poles where bald eagles breed – easy to see some.

The first wildlife view of a bigger animal was on a boat tour out of Cowichan Bay. I chose that place because I booked the trip a week before and didnt have nuch time for research. Since Cowichan Bay is in the middle it has good access, which gives you a very good chance for spotting animals.

13.07.2025 Google Pixel 6a, Full HD Video, different zooms

Location: Georgia Strait, Northeast of Victoria

I went on the evening trip with Ocean Eco ventures. The trip was a full success. We mainly followed a family of 4 Orca, while they were feeding. When there were seals around one of them shortly dipped out (last picture) to get a better look. And in the end they were playfully splashing with their tails.

Here are some tips for whale watching in the Vancouver area:

1. First of all, most of the companies in the georgia street communicate about the sightings, so you will always see whales but it can also get very crowded around the whales. Thats why i recommend going after ours. For example Ocean Eco Tours out of Cowichan Bay go 5-8pm i think.
2. Look for recent sightings. The people around Georgie strait use the Oceanwise whale report app to post sightings – very usefull. Then book a trip that starts nearbthose sightings to maximize your time with the whales.
3. In my experience the whales tend to be further away here and dont approach. So you need a good camera or a scope.
4. You can likely see whales from the Tswassen – Shorts Bay Ferry
5. Orcas are great to see but the marine biologists told me that they are less playful than the humpbacks – just so you know. And they are smaller than humpbacks. I guess you can tell already: Im team humpback 😀
6. Im not sure if I can recommend Ocean Eco Ventures. I went with them twice but thinking back there are some things that annoyed me: Even if all have the greatest time watching some Orca, they will still leave to look for other animals, so they can afterward say, that you saw more animals…i didnt like that.