2-Hour Wildlife and Culture small van Excursion in Ketchikan
Description
Enjoy a narrated small group island excursion where you will have a chance to watch for wildlife, and see the authentic art and culture of the area with a local guide. Stops may include: Herring Cove (the best place we can drive to for a chance to see wildlife) Salmon ladder (if visiting in spawning season) Totem heritage center (amazing art, and 200+ year old totem poles) A beautiful waterfall A drive through Saxman native village A popular local beach (if the tide is low enough)
Tour Options
Itinerary
Herring Cove is the best place we can drive to for the chance to spot some wildlife. Bears are very common there especially in salmon spawning season (mid July through late September) If any questions please call 9078218383 Bald eagles are extremely common there from May to August. There are many different bird species you can sometimes spot including Kingfishers, blue heron, steller blue jays, and ravens. other possible wildlife includes seals, salmon, Sitka blacktail deer, and otters.
We make this stop only during salmon spawning season, and you can see salmon jumping up the rapids, and swimming up the ladder. Customer service: 9078218383
Founded in 1976 the Totem Heritage Center contains amazing art, and 200+ year old totem poles. The Totem Heritage Center preserves the art of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples. The Center houses endangered 19th century totem poles retrieved from uninhabited Tlingit and Haida village sites. The Center contains 33 authentic poles, numerous historic artifacts, and Native art works.
We drive through a Tlingit town, known as Saxman. We will pass by totems, a clan house, and a totem carving center.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(87)
Mathew was an excellent tour guide! He took us to Herring Cove to try and see a bear, unfortunately no bears but not for lack of trying he went back to check again. Took us to a beautiful waterfall and was a great tour guide through the Totem Heritage Museum. People were stopping and listening to him that were not with our group. It was a great get away and we still had plenty of time to explore downtown.
The only reason I can't give this 5 stars is because so much is crammed into such a short time. It is indeed a crash course on the area, and you'd better be ready to move. Our guide was Shad, and he was super friendly, a fast-talker and full of knowledge from a lifetime in the area. He set a brisk pace and we were able to keep up, but I wish we'd had time to linger in more spots, particularly Herring Cove where there was so much wildlife to see and watch for...but we had to keep moving! We had done a flightseeing excursion earlier in the day and only had time to push in another 2 hour excursion before we had to be on our ship. 3 hours would have cut it too close. So it's somewhat our fault, but honestly, I wish we had just had a bit less frantic time. We went to the cove. Also a nice turnoff the road to see a waterfall and then walk into the rainforest just a bit to see just how dense and dark it is. Then we went to the Totem Museum (20 minutes!) and then on to the fish ladder. We learned a lot in a short time, and again, Shad was great. I applaud this company for evening inventing a 2 hour tour...but it is arguably a bit much. Maybe do 2.5 and give more time at the lovely cove or ask the passengers where they'd like to go.
Shad is a great guy! We appreciate his knowledge and personality! We learned a lot about the area from him. We were hoping to see a bear but it wasn’t in the cards this time but we did see bald eagles and a beautiful waterfall! We did shop creek street at the end per Shad’s recommendation. Overall a great experience we’d do again. Enjoy your fishing Shad!!
Daniel our guide was a lovely young man and answered any questions we had. We managed to see a black bear which was nice and I found the totem pole museum which was included very informative. A nice way to spend a couple of hours and see some of the island.
We had a wonderful time on this nature tour in Ketchikan! Daniel was an excellent guide—friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate about the local area. He shared interesting information about the wildlife, plants, history, and ecosystem in a way that was engaging and easy to understand. The scenery was beautiful. It was the perfect length—long enough to see and learn a lot, but not so long that it became tiring. Daniel made the experience both educational and enjoyable, and we left with a greater appreciation for the natural beauty of Alaska. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Ketchikan!
I only have one star as I couldn’t give zero. Absolute rip off, got charged TWICE, with no help from the operator. We were taken to ONE field to see non existant bears, in the middle of a zip line route. The only thing we saw was a pigeon…. The excuse was it was too early in the season . Begs the question of why run the tour at end of May ? Answer ..to rip tourists off. Saw nothing in 1.5 hours then were taken to a totem pole museum for last half hour. Defo no wildlife there! Avoid, avoid, avoid !!!!
It was disappointing. Unfortunately, not much to see (late May) and our guide was lacking. A better guide would have made the lack of any wildlife less of an issue.
It's an easy and informative short tour. We saw 1 bear and several eagles. It wasn't prime season for seeing them but was lucky we got to see one.
Daniel was a very informative and engaging guide. The wildlife sightings were limited as we were quite late in the season but Daniel gave us a great overview of the island and his experiences there.
Great tour with knowledgeable guide. Sadly no bears but he did try hard! Watching the salmon swimming upstream was interesting, really have to feel for them, all that hard work and determination and then they die!
