A visit to the original Canadians

Back to my Canadian break, and after my less than totally successful attempt at fishing, I asked Mr Ranger what we could do next. Mr Ranger, being a Moose himself, knows a lot about the wildlife of Canada, but also about our history and cultural heritage. He suggested that we make a visit to meet some of the original native inhabitants of North America. Well, of course I was very keen to do that and so we set off straight away. I was a bit nervous about taking Rabbie the Bear with us - I mean I know native peoples are very good at living in harmony with nature and everything, but he is extremely large! But Mr Ranger said it would be no problem as he knows the people of the Red Tail Squirrel tribe very well.

After about two hours walking through the forest we came to a clearing, where there was a small cluster of traditional tents and we were greeted by the leader of the tribe Bushtail, and his son Little Tail. They were very hospitable and explained that they live in the tents throughout the summer, hunting and enjoying the great outdoors, but in the winter nowadays they move in to ordinary houses. Sounds very sensible to me!

We got on very well, and Little Tail offered to take me out for a ride in his boat the next day. That sounded too good to miss, so we all settled down for the night. Rabbie had a tent to himself but even so, his paws stuck out all night. He didn't mind though - it's the great benefit of being so furry! Next time, I'll tell you how I got on in the boat.