Air ! And big gulps! Do the French feel the urge to reconnect with nature? In this regard, Canada is not lacking in assets. With its 42 parks and reserves, it deploys vast expanses for all tastes: taigas, tundras, wild canyons, ice floes, beaches… “In February, we went to an outfitter [NDLR : établissement qui propose des services (hébergement, matériel, guides…) aux adeptes de la chasse et de la pêche en pleine nature] meet the trappers. We fished in a frozen lake, went cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and dog sledding,” recalls enthusiastic Charlène Malesieux.
Like this young mother, two-thirds of our fellow citizens favor destinations offering outdoor activities. That’s good: this country with its harsh winters has deployed all the gear necessary to satisfy the most unimaginable practices on ice and snow. Including… heli-skiing, prohibited in France.
“There was a before and an after-Covid, with an increase in requests for the West and the Maritimes”, confirms Cyrielle Bon, director general of Destination Canada, the Canadian tourist office. In fact, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are swept by iodized winds and are home to twelve species of whales. Between the two provinces, the Bay of Fundy fascinates with its tides that cause giant sea whirlpools. The park of the same name, with an area of 20,500 hectares, is criss-crossed by 100 kilometers of trails for walking and cycling. Its two lakes invite you to paddle and tease trout. And on the south coast, high cliffs overlook long beaches. Finally, the interpretation center lifts the veil on the history of the forest industry.
A quasi-lunar tundra
Then head for Halifax, with its Celtic charm. On the waterfront, the Maritime Museum exhibits a replica of the titanic – it is from there that the boats set out to find the victims. A little further afield, the small harbor town of Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its colorful 18th-century wooden houses and famous five-sided dormer windows. She is also the home port of a construction identical to the schooner Bluenose, which was famous for its speed and used for cod fishing and sailor races in the 1920s and 1930s.
Further north, in Inuit territory, the Pingualuit meteorite crater impresses with its 3,400 meters in diameter. Its bluish waters, fed only by rain, are among the purest in the world. The almost lunar tundra that surrounds it lends itself to hiking or skiing.
Before leaving the Atlantic, you have to push on to Anse aux Meadows, in the depths of the island of Newfoundland, where the remains of eight buildings bear witness to a Viking camp dating back to the year 1000 – the only one in North America. The buildings with wooden frames covered with peat served as dwellings, forges and workshops. Nearly 100 people would have lived there for about ten years.
A paradise for naturalist photographers, the Thousand Islands archipelago (1865, in fact!) stretches between Ontario and the United States. Long ignored by tourists in a hurry to go from Montreal to Toronto, the “garden of the Great Spirit”, as the natives called it, concentrates rare fauna and flora, such as the rat snake or the little bittern. It can be admired from a cruise, at will aboard a boat or from the many trails along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. However, it is the viewpoint on the island of Hill that offers a breathtaking 360° panorama. In this dark sky reserve, vespers have been celebrated since 1887 at Half Moon Bay – a site accessible exclusively by skiff.
Manitoba’s 110,000 lakes
Canoe-camping enthusiasts will delight in Algonquin Park (720,000 hectares), rich in 1,900 kilometers of waterways, or on the 110,000 lakes of neighboring Manitoba, where all kinds of water sports are practiced. Please note: campers must respect strict rules and settle in the dedicated areas, which mark out the routes. As for campfires, they are only authorized in the locations provided for this purpose, and only with the wood provided.
Canada scrupulously protects its natural regions. Quotas limit entries each week and “instructions” are distributed to preserve the vegetation and live with the animals. During sea excursions, for example, boats must stay more than 400 meters away from dolphins and porpoises. Similarly, arctic safaris are very supervised, both to protect wildlife and to ensure the safety of travelers who come to observe polar bears, the white fox (which only shivers at -34°C), snow geese or listen to the belugas singing. This region of Hudson’s Bay is also propitious to the Northern Lights nearly 300 nights a year.
Lovers of the Great West will venture into the Saskatchewan, so gigantic that it unrolls landscapes as varied as the agricultural plains, the lunar foothills of the badlands and “the Canadian Dead Sea”, nickname of the Petit-Manitou, whose salinity rate is exceptional. Experienced riders will choose Alberta, the land of cowboys, with its wild horses and endless prairies. The ranches grant hospitality and organize equestrian expeditions and initiations in herding cattle.
“Nevertheless, the French still have a strong need for culture, warns Cyrielle Bon. Tour operators who wanted to decline German or English packages solely focused on nature have returned.” For this, towns still set in a green setting prove to be a good compromise. Very chic Vancouver, nestled against the mountains and with its feet in the Pacific, is home to an oasis: the 400 hectares of forest in Stanley Park. Located on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto’s name derives from a Mohawk term meaning “where there are trees in the water”. And it deserves it: a third of its surface is covered with it.
In the national ranking of the greenest cities, Quebec takes second place. With a population of 800,000 inhabitants, it has more than a hundred parks and gardens. Barely fifteen minutes from the historic center, Montmorency Park proudly displays its waterfalls, which exceed those of Niagara by twenty-five meters. Adrenaline junkies will embark on the via ferrata which combines hiking and climbing. Suffice to say that Canada has something to satisfy both thrill seekers and fans of letting go.