North America's wild places run the full spectrum — from temperate ocean to alpine meadow to boreal wilderness. Cheesemans' expeditions explore some of the continent's most wildlife-rich environments: the dynamic predator-prey ecosystem of Yellowstone, where wolves, grizzly bears, and bison roam landscapes shaped by fire and restoration; the productive marine waters of Monterey Bay, home to humpback whales, orcas, and Black-footed Albatrosses; the Sea of Cortez, where vast aggregations of mobula rays and hunting orcas make for some of the most spectacular marine wildlife on the planet; and Alaska's coastal wilderness, where brown bears gather to fish in one of North America's great annual wildlife spectacles. Expert naturalist interpretation and extended time in the field define every trip.
Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris
North America
About the Region
Alaska
Southwest Alaska is home to one of the highest concentrations of brown bears on Earth — and to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, which sustains them. Cheesemans’ expeditions explore this vast, roadless wilderness with expert naturalists who bring the ancient bond between bear and salmon to life: watching bears fish the rushing waters of Brooks Falls, searching the remote rivers and coastal meadows of Katmai and Lake Clark for mothers with cubs, and observing moose and bald eagles across a landscape still shaped by glaciers, volcanoes, and the yearly return of millions of salmon. This is a window into how a single fish can feed an entire wilderness — bears, eagles, and forest alike.
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone is one of the world's great wildlife ecosystems — and one of the most compelling stories in modern conservation. Cheesemans' expeditions explore the park with expert naturalists who bring its extraordinary predator-prey dynamics to life: tracking wolf packs across the Lamar Valley, searching open meadows for grizzly bears and their cubs, and observing bison herds moving through a landscape still shaped by fire, geothermal activity, and the ripple effects of wolf reintroduction. This is wildlife watching that goes well beyond the sighting — it's an education in how wild ecosystems actually work.
Mobula Rays & Orcas — Sea of Cortez
The Sea of Cortez is one of the most biologically productive bodies of water on the planet — Jacques Cousteau famously called it "the aquarium of the world." Each spring, vast schools of mobula rays gather here in one of the ocean's great spectacles, leaping clear of the surface by the hundreds. Cheesemans' expeditions snorkel directly among these aggregations, while orcas, sea lions, and enormous pods of dolphins move through the same productive waters. Few marine encounters anywhere combine this density of wildlife with this level of direct, in-water access.
Monterey Bay
The waters off California's Monterey Peninsula are among the most productive in the Pacific — fed by deep, cold upwellings that support a marine food web of staggering scale. Cheesemans' expeditions explore this rich environment by boat, scanning for humpback whales, blue whales, orcas, and Risso's dolphins, while seabirds like Black-footed Albatrosses and Sooty Shearwaters gather in the thousands overhead. Sea otters rest in kelp beds close to shore. The diversity and density of marine life here is genuinely world-class, and changes trip to trip — making every outing feel like a new expedition. View our Monterey Bay whale watching trips →
