The Klahoose First Nation conducted grizzly bear tours in Toba Inlet for five years before their economic development arm, Qathen Xwegus Management Corporation (QXMC), purchased the former Homfray Lodge in November 2020. Many of the packages are already booked for the Klahoose Wilderness Resort’s second season, which starts May 12th.
“This year, we have a full season ahead of us. We’re really happy with the number of reservations. We’re welcoming guests from all over the world and September is mostly full. We’ve got a couple of rooms left for the grizzly bear viewing season, and then May through August is filling up,”explained Chris Tait, the resort’s Tourism Manager.
“We’re a hundred percent Indigenous owned and the activities that you’re going to do will be Indigenous led. The most authentic tourism in Canada is Indigenous tourism and our Klahoose Wilderness Resort allows people to have that connection. We could tie it back to reconciliation, especially for Canadians if they want to have that piece of reconciliation, support Indigenous business and meet local people who live there.”
Tait explained Quathen Xwegus’ decision to purchase the lodge in terms of controlling the narrative:
“Not just having people in the territory, but actually guiding guests in the territory. Leading those tours, having the guests know the place names, having guests know the culture that they’re visiting, that’s really important as a business,” he said.
Guests come from Europe, Vancouver and the surrounding local communities like Powell River and Campbell River to ‘experience the Klahoose First Nation, the Indigenous people that live in this area that have always lived here.’
Many are picked up in Lund by the Klahoose catamaran ‘Goat1.’ Their experience begins with the trip up Desolation Sound, where they may see marine life like humpback whales, orca, sea lions and/or eagles.
Their arrival at the resort starts with a traditional Klahoose greeting on the dock.
“It’s a three or four nights stay. They’re going to be on the land or on the water with an Indigenous guide. They may go on a boat tour to Toba Inlet to visit the waterfalls and watching for more marine life, pictoglyphs that we see along the way in,” said Tait. “Back at the resort, they can go kayaking, they can do stand up paddle boarding, ocean swimming. We have nature walks into the rain forest where we even have some old growth forest tucked back behind the lodge.”
Grizzly Bear Viewing tours in Toba Inlet are included from late August to mid-October?
Guest all-inclusive packages start at about $2,895 per person for a three night stay, based on two guests sharing a room. This includes accommodation, meals and all activities (including passage on the Goat 1). A four night package is about $3,795 per person. (These rates do not include taxes.) Beer and wine are provided with meals, but guests will have to pay for extra alcohol.
“We’re really happy to have hired up to 15 staff, which are all Indigenous, from the Klahoose community, Tla’amin, Homalco or other nearby Indigenous people. They will lead our tours, serve food, work in housekeeping, as boat drivers and grizzly bear viewing guides.”
The resort also has ties to the surrounding local communities.
“Suzanne Fletcher, our new manager at the resort, used to work at Hollyhock. She lives on Cortes Island. As an onsite manager she’ll be responsible for hiring all the guides, the staff and manage day-to-day management of the resort with the chef.”
Raven Song soap, out of Campbell River, and CraggyOak Soap from Lund are used in the rooms and guest shop.
They use Spirit Bear Coffee, which comes from an Indigenous owned company in Coquitlam.
“A lot of our guides and our staff are new to tourism. So they’ve had a really interesting experience going back to the elders, going back to their family, back to the community, asking what stories they are allowed to tell and which ones they’re not. How do they tell their story? And even just learning about themselves in the process,” explained Chris Tait.
He talks about regenerative travel as a two way experience shared by visitors and staff.
“The staff and our team at the resort also have that experience learning about their own culture during the process of learning how they’re going to host guests and what they’re going to talk about. I think if we can continue to do that at the resort, that makes it really special and unique and I’m excited to be part of it.”
There is more (incl. the shift to green energy, a little about the rooms, the resorts menu etc) in the podcast.
Top photo credit: Aerial view of the Klahoose Wilderness Resort – submitted photo
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