Category: Educational

NWT Geography, Revisited

Written by:

Three years ago, we answered some FAQs about our new home. Now that we’ve moved even further north, it seemed like it was time to revisit these questions.

Where did you move again? Iqaluit?

Inuvik. Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut, 2,842 km away. Iqaluit is further south than Inuvik – it’s actually even further south than Tulita! “Inu” means people and “vik” means place, so Inuvik essentially means “people place”.

Are there roads there?

Yes! We can drive south down the Dempster Highway towards Dawson City and beyond, or north on the new Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway towards Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean.

_DSC4832

Are you north of the Arctic Circle?

We sure are! You can even drive there from here.

_DSC5471

Are there trees there?

Yes, but just barely. They end shortly out of town and then it’s pure tundra.

Is it flat there?

Inuvik is in a river delta, so it’s pretty flat. There are some rolling hills, but nothing huge. The nearest mountain range is the Richardson Mountains, near the Yukon border. You can see them from here on a clear day.

Is the ground permafrost?

Still yup.

Are there polar bears there?

We’re right at the edge of their range. It’s very uncommon for them to come anywhere near town – they occasionally end up near Tuk, but it’s pretty rare. We’re in one of the few areas in Canada where technically all three species of bears could run into each other. In fact, the island north of us is where the first grizzly-polar bear hybrid was found.

 

Northern Airlines

Written by:

There was a flight sale (very rare up here), so we booked flights from Norman Wells to Yellowknife for our Australia trip. So it seemed like a good time to talk about flying up North.

Canada’s major airlines (Air Canada & WestJet) will get you as far as Yellowknife and Whitehorse. After that, you’ll have to switch to one of the North’s numerous smaller carriers. Most of these airlines won’t show up on Google Flights, so you have to know where to look for them. They may or may not have online booking options, and they will all be quite expensive.

North-Wright is the only airline with regularly scheduled flights to Tulita. They fly to Yellowknife via Deline once daily Mon-Fri ($850 each way, but you can save $50 by paying in cash at their office), and to Norman Wells Mon-Sat ($233 each way).

From Norman Wells, First Air and Canadian North fly to Yellowknife and Inuvik. These airlines also fly around Nunavut. Some of the other main northern airlines are Calm Air, which flies around northern Manitoba and southern Nunavut, and Air North, which flies around the Yukon and also from Yellowknife direct to Ottawa.

The other airlines with scheduled flights around the Northwest Territories are Air Tindi, Northwestern Air and Buffalo Airways around the southern parts of the territory, and Aklak Air further north.

Charter flights quite common up here, and may even be cheaper than the scheduled flights with a few people on board. Charter flights are the only way to get into Nahanni & Nááts’ihch’oh. Most of the airlines that offer scheduled flights also offer chartered flights. Additionally, there are a number of companies that only do charter & cargo. Here are a few:

Hopefully this information will help you with planning your next trip to the North!