To make the best of your stay in the bear photography hide, you would need:
- camera with a tripod if you wish to take photos through the higher camera opening
- a binocular ( helpful for spotting wildlife from a wider distance and during low light conditions)
- food, water, non-alcoholic drinks
- a little flashlight/headlamp (faint light)
- extra warm socks or indoor shoes/slippers
If you forgot to add binoculars to your booking but would like to rent them, let us know. The
binoculars are Danubia Bussard I 8×56 and the cost is 5€ /one night for one binocular.
The hides have viewing windows on only one side of the hide and they are equipped with chairs, sleeping bags, pillows, and bunk beds. If possible, we’d ask you to take your own sleeping bag and pillow but ofcourse it’s also possible to use ours. The hide has also a dry toilet and for cleaning your hands there’s a bottle of hand sanitizer.
There is no electricity or running water.
The meeting point for the bear hide: http://bit.ly/photographyhide
PS. The link works well for Google Maps, but if you try to open it through other apps (such as Waze), it might change the location. Please check if the end location is the same for both apps.
Geographic coordinates: 59.255044, 26.992976
The meeting point is a small parking lot, just next to the gravel road. You can leave the car for the night at the meeting point.
Please be there at 17:00 or earlier. Please arrive at the correct time. We have to move together as a group to the hides at the right time to increase the chance of seeing animals. Plan your pace and take extra time to find the meeting place.
Never go out of the hide during your stay in the evening and night. You can leave the hide in the morning at 8:00. It’s best to leave the hide together with other people staying in there so the disturbance will be minimal. When leaving the hide, please take the same path that got you there.
For photographers: For lower-level camera openings, we have “bean bags” waiting for you in the hide. If you wish to use the higher camera openings, please take a tripod with you.
After reaching the hides, please check if the camera openings that you wish to use, are open also from the outside.
If you have some other questions, you can call Peep (+37256225943) or Bert (+372 513 7141). The general emergency number in Estonia is 112.
For the ones going on their own:
Inside the Brown Bear hide
Welcome to Natourest’s Brown Bear photography hide! To make your stay comfortable, please read the following suggestions:
- We kindly ask you to take off your hiking boots, when you enter the hide. This keeps the hide clean for you and for other visitors.
- Bears have a great sense of smell. The dry toilet in the hide is a special kind and it is made to be as odor free as possible. It makes your stay pleasant, but moreover, avoids bears from sensing humans.
- The dry toilet has a separator, which separates the “first” and “second” business. This solution means that everyone has to do their “first” and “second” by sitting, men as well. Sawdust is used to cover the “second” business.
- Don’t use the “bush toilet” near the hide!
- Bears have also excellent hearing. Talking quietly, making as little noise as possible, and not using a flash on your camera increases the chance of seeing animals. Also, use your flashlight or headlamp only when you really need it, and never point the light beam out of the windows.
- As mentioned above, the senses of bears are sharp. Please don’t smoke and drink alcohol in the hide or near it.
- Brown bears are usually active in the evening and at night. There are soft lights under the forest canopy, so you can watch the wildlife all night.
- We appreciate it when you make sure before leaving that the hide will be as clean as it was before you. Please take all the garbage with you when you leave the hide.
- Never go out of the hide during your stay in the evening and night. You can leave the hide in the morning at 8:00. When leaving the hide, please take the same path that got you there.
- After leaving the hide, please do not wander around the hides. The more unfamiliar scents there are, the smaller the chance that the bears want to show themselves to other visitors on the following days.
We wish you luck and lots of wonderful observations!
