For those who don’t know about Parc Oméga or where it is, it’s a wild animal park just north of Montebello about an hour and 10 minute drive east of Ottawa. You can drive your car through the various types of deer, elk, wild boars, a bison herd, and also see, in large woodland enclosures, black wolves, arctic wolves, gray wolves, coyotes, black bears, musk ox, mountain goats, and I’m sure other animals that I’ve not named. The deer, elk, wapiti, etc., will come right up to your car and you can feed them carrots (purchased as the gift shop/restaurant) through the window. And if you haven’t seen an Arctic Fox before, they are the cutest little bundles of fur, on short little legs, that look like puff-balls when they run as a pack on the snow.
However, little known to most, is that you can spend a night in the park choosing from several different types of accommodation depending on the season. But in the winter, you can only stay in a fully equipped log cabin right in the gray wolf compound with one wall a floor to ceiling window, the entire width of the cabin, where the wolves will come right up and say hello. This is what we did.
We got to the Parc about 1200 hrs, let them know we were there, and then went for a tour through the Parc (our cabin was to be ready for 1300 hrs. with wood burning stove lit and chill taken off the cabin). It was a good day and we spent 2 ½ hours taking pictures of mostly wolves before finally getting to the cabin. On entering the cabin we immediately noticed how clean it was and warm. We were told we didn’t need to use the wood burning stove as the floors had a heating system built into them. The kitchen was modest with a microwave, two burner stove, and small fridge. Plates and pots were all supplied as was bedding, towels and firewood. The cabin consisted of the one large room with the kitchen/dining and washroom facilities in the back half and the two beds right in front of the window to the wolf compound. In addition, and more usable in other seasons, was a terrace area, open to the outside at the back, where one could also sit and view the wolves through another floor to ceiling window. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also an elevated walkway around the compound, up a separating hill, and over to the black bear compound.
Now, it was about 1500 hrs on a warmish, slightly sunny, day and right in front of us sleeping on the snow maybe 25 feet away was the pack: nine wolves from alpha couple (leaders) down to the omega wolf (bottom of the hierarchy). And that’s all they did for about two hours. The occasional stretch or change of position, but all they did was sleep. Then, about 1700 hrs they got up and started to play and chase each other, run all over the compound and generally act like a litter of puppies. They also had no shyness in coming up to the window to see who we were but didn’t seem to care much that we were there. There was a lot of activity to watch all over the compound but after a couple of hours they settled down again, in the snow, for a snooze.
Just about dusk, they wakened again and it was more of the same with pretend fighting, running and chasing, coming up to the window singly and in groups. It was easy to see in the darkness as we had a full moon and they do have lights on the cabin exterior to light up the front 20-25 feet of the enclosure.
Again, this went on for a couple of hours after which everyone dug a hole and curled up for the night. That is until 0345 hrs when we were awakened by the pack in choir mode yelping and barking and howling. And again at 0420 hrs, and 0520 hrs, and again at 0630 hrs, the last time all nine of them formed up about five feet from the end of our bed singing their hearts out. Clearly it was time to get up.
They were quite a bit more active in the morning, wandering around, then playing, then wandering around some more. On a sunny morning it would have been perfect for pictures as the cabin faces west so you would have had the wolves lit up nicely. It’s a bit harsher in the afternoon. Anyway, we watched until the Parc opened at 1000 hrs and went through the Parc one last time.
As a note, if you should choose to do this overnighter, take something with you to do as there is no tv or internet in the cabins and the wolves do sleep a lot leaving you with some empty time to fill. We took a 32 inch tv with us and watched movies from the laptop but most tvs take usb keys now so you could do that. There’s lots of time to read as well or just relax and watch the “sleeping dog lie”.
Other notes are that the admission to the Parc is not included in your rental fee but you do get a discount on your Parc entry and the entry is good for two days rather than one. Also, there is no bar soap provided (they got complaints from people with allergies), no paper towels/Kleenex, and there are no instructions on how to use the wood burning stove (where is and how to use the air flow regulator). Everything else is provided (except food), is clean and comfortable. These are all very minor observations and in no way should deter you from trying this.
To see all the pictures, CLICK HERE
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