Our Guides
Brian Keating, Bill Lamberton and Les Stegenga
Our Guest Polar Bear Tour Naturalist - Brian Keating
Brian Keating is our guest Naturalist on this tour. Brian is currently the Honorary Conservation Advisor, Calgary Zoo; adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, U of Calgary; and the owner of www.goingwild.org. He’s been leading groups on nature based travel for over three decades, exploring some of the best wildlife areas on the Planet. He’s a weekly guest on Calgary ’s CBC Radio, was a regular on the Discovery Channel and presently has a 4-part TV nature series called “Going Wild” airing on National Geographic Canada TV.
Our President - Bill Lamberton
Bill Lamberton, the President of Classic Canadian Tours had a vision of
sharing Canada's most pristine beauty with others and has made it a reality
through this new venture.
With a
Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a
background in the travel industry that spans over 35 years, Bill brings insight
to the competitive nature of the tour business and what it takes to succeed and
add value to the industry. In addition to Classic Canadian Tours, Bill is the
President of Leading Edge Strategies, where he provides welcomed industry
insight and guidance for his clients.
Les began his career in wildlife biology after graduating from Trent University with a BSc. in 1979. His first job took him to Churchill, Manitoba working as a polar bear researcher. During his time there he witnessed the beginnings of polar bear tourism and the start of a new understanding in how we view this iconic creature.
Les moved from the Arctic to western Canada where for 8 years he researched the impact of oil and gas exploration on grizzly bear behavior, plus fieldwork on seasonal feeding patterns among black bears in the eastern slopes of the Rockies. His work also included studies on moose, bighorn sheep and cougars.
In 1988 Les joined the Calgary Zoo and is a senior keeper responsible for animals in the Canadian Wilds exhibit.
Through the Zoo’s eco-safari education program he has lead over 20 trips to Africa including the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti, trekking to view gorillas in Rwanda and elephants in Botswana’s Okavango delta. He’s also lead trips to the panda reserve in Wolong province in China, plus explorations in the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon basin and Antarctica.
For the past 13 years Les has been thrilled to be part of Classical Canadian Tours’ trips to view the annual polar bear migration. In 2014 he began hosting trips for Classical Canadian Tours to B.C.’s Khutzeymateen Nature Reserve to see Grizzly bears and to Churchill for summertime viewing of beluga whales.