Can SARICA

3.00 Turkey - Canada - 30-Jul-24 -

Pimachiowin Aki is one of the world's lesser-visited World Heritage Sites. At the time of writing this review, I was only the fourth visitor of this site on this website, despite its inscription about six years ago. I visited Pimachiowin Aki in late July 2024, starting my trip from Toronto. I landed at Winnipeg Airport at 9:15 am, rented an SUV (110 CAD/day incl. insurance), bought a tent and some food from a nearby Walmart, and left the city around 10:30 am. The airport is compact, and everything was super smooth and within easy reach.

To enter anywhere inside the core zone of this WHS in Manitoba, you must fly, except for the most southern part, called Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park. (I assume most of you are not extreme outdoor enthusiasts who can walk or canoe long distances or have that much time.) There are three options to access this area:

1) Fly into a lodge from Winnipeg, Wallace Lake, or Bissett. You can rent a lodge to experience the wilderness with your family, go for a day trip for fishing, or fly to a point where you can start a multi-day canoe tour.
2) Drive to Wallace Lake and start a multi-day canoeing tour through the park from this point. This option includes long-distance portages and wilderness camping, which are not for novice canoers/kayakers or non-outdoor people.
3) Drive to Bloodvein from English Brook.

I opted to drive to Wallace Lake by car and kayak there, then continue to Bloodvein, as flying was beyond my budget and I did not have enough time for multi-day outdoor adventures.

There are two land routes to reach Wallace Lake Provincial Park: one through Pine Falls, Manigotagan, and Bissett, and the other through Lac du Bonnet and Nopiming Provincial Park. Once you pass Pine Falls or Lac du Bonnet, you are in the buffer zone of this WHS. The region north of a line connecting Pine Falls to Lac du Bonnet up to the northernmost edge of Lake Winnipeg is named Lac Seul Upland, part of the Precambrian Boreal Forests. The biome (animals and plants) inside this region is similar, whether you are in the buffer zone or inside the core zone of this WHS. According to the locals, the main differences are the higher chances of seeing Caribou in the north, more bushes and rocks in the north, and pictographs primarily in the north.

I chose to go through Nopiming Provincial Park, one of the two Manitoba provincial parks in the buffer zone (the other is South Atikaki Nature Reserve, which covers Wallace Lake; Wallace Lake Provincial Park only covers the north shore of the lake) and return via Pine Falls. A crucial piece of advice for future travelers is to rent an SUV or a truck to reach the site, as the roads after Bird River and Manigotagan are gravel.

I easily reached Nopiming Provincial Park via asphalt roads, probably before noon. The road inside the park is gravel, with many ramps, dips, and turns, but it is truly scenic and rewarding. There are plenty of lakes along the way where you can stop for a rest or a short hike. I took only one such break to reach Wallace Lake as early as possible (top left photo). I arrived at Wallace Lake just before 2 pm. Wallace Lake Lodge is owned by a friendly Manitoban couple who have been running it for over 15 years. They offer plane trips to the core zone for day fishing and rent out commercial lodges for longer stays. Additionally, they rent kayaks for 50 CAD per day.

I started my kayaking trip at 2:15 pm and finished just before 5 pm, covering a total distance of 13 km. My route included Wallace Lake Lodge, Power Bay, Snake Island, Oval Island, Big Island, Sharp's Rock, Loon Rocks, Conley Bay, Wild Jack's Point, Lafrance Bay, and back (top right photo). Being immersed in nature was amazing—calm, silent, and tranquil. I saw two black bears swimming or hunting along the shore; I didn't want to scare them (big laugh here), but they ran into the forest when they saw me. I also saw a deer, but no caribou or moose. Another advice: Don't forget to bring mosquito repellent, as the lake is full of flies (bottom left photo).

I left the lodge for Bloodvein around 5:45 pm, reaching English Brook to turn towards Bloodvein around 6:45 pm. This part of the road was also gravel, but it was straighter and wider, allowing me to drive comfortably at 70-80 km per hour. Sunset was around 9:30 pm, but the sky remained bright until 10 pm.

The only issue was that my SUV (a Ford Edge) had just over 1/4 of a tank of gas left, which was estimated to be enough for about 175 km. This was barely sufficient to get to Bloodvein and back to the gas station at Pine Falls. Note that there are no commercial gas stations between Pine Falls and Poplar Bay on this loop. If you plan to visit both Wallace Lake and Bloodvein on the same trip, you should fill up your tank either at Pine Falls or Poplar Bay, depending on your route.

Despite my fuel concerns, I decided to enter the core zone, traveling about 50 km in to reach around Loon Straits before turning back. To be honest, if I had been with my wife, she would not have allowed me to take such a risk. I wish I could say that the nature dramatically changes as soon as you enter the core zone, but unfortunately, it looks the same throughout the region. I comforted myself on the way back by thinking, "I would probably see no one in Bloodvein after 8 pm." But luckily, I saw on my way back from Loon Straits to English Brook another black bear, who waited my pass to cross the road. 

It's worth noting that the First Nations communities no longer live in tents as they did in the past. Their villages are not much different from any other rural Canadian village. Their houses, churches, and shops are modern and similar to those found elsewhere in Canada. On my way back to Grand Beach Campground, I visited the Sagkeeng First Nation village, and it was indistinguishable from a typical rural village. I had a burger at "Tasty Treats," which is open until 10 pm (kitchen closes at 9:30 pm), and reached Grand Beach Campground around 10:30 pm to spend the night.

Overall, it was a good experience for me. I had not done any long-distance kayaking on a lake before, and I believe I experienced the natural aspect of the OUV here. I did not experience the cultural aspect, but I believe visiting Bloodvein alone is not enough for that. To truly appreciate the cultural significance, you must see the pictographs in the wilderness. Modern-day Bloodvein is not extraordinary in itself.

Additionally, I found that I understood the nature better after visiting the Manitoba Museum the following day (bottom right photo). I highly recommend visiting this amazing museum if you can, before your wilderness trip. And do not forget to visit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, which I believe is the best museum in Canada, both in terms of content and architecture.

Zoë Sheng

3.50 Chinese-Canadian - 03-Jul-19 -

Aki is a very odd collection of First Nation reserves, national parks, forests and plenty of other areas in-between. I had a look at the massive map provided by UNESCO and there are plenty of sections I don't see as nature protected yet I guess they are part of this cultural aspect. More on that later.

There are a few feasible ways into this grand area, a massive collection of several parks. I have been to two of these. Unlike Nahanni it doesn't require a splurge but instead some determination, time, and gravel roads, lots of gravel roads. First stop was Red Bay in Ontario. From there we canoed along flat lakes and marshes towards Douglas Lake. It takes a long day of paddling, camping at the shore, and another full day paddling back. As the drive from Winnipeg is 5h each way it took 4 days total. At the park we mainly saw ducks and other birds but no mammals. The Woodland Caribou park is unfortunately only home to a few thousand of these. The issue is that they eat lichen and logging around the areas has killed those. Second is that their migration paths are now destroyed due to human influence and being stuck in such a "small" area is unnatural for them. Hard to believe with the vast provinces but it is unfortunately true.

Friends of mine went canoeing all the way from here to Bloodvein in the west. Crazy if you ask me even for Canadian standards but I also don't have 3 weeks to spare. Instead we drove through the buffer zone Nopiming Provincial Park for some hiking, then camped at Wallace Lake (still in a buffer zone, South Atikaki) to take a boat out onto the lake. It doesn't cross into the core zone and isn't spectacular in any way. I don't recommend this as it is expensive to lodge here. As a lodger you are allowed to use the ramp so theoretically you could bring a canoe or boat and paddle into the core zone from the south.

The next day we drove up to Bloodvein itself. There is a new gravel road and a bridge across the Bloodvein river to enable this journey, although before there was a ferry service from town instead. This section is surprisingly included in the inscribed area. So far we hadn't anything for the cultural part but even at the reserve it was not clear, I believe this is another one of those "landscape" situation where history and long term cultural behavior is just something we need to assume to be there, although if you go further into the park there are pictographs to show the long relationship between First Nations and the park. As you can tell I'm not a fan of this part too much.

Overall visiting areas at the edges of the park weren't all that exciting, and there isn't much unique here compared to other parts of Canada. I am happy nature is protected and gets recognition but that's about it.