Sitka, 18 May

Views of Sitka

Bald Eagle at Raptor Centre

Performers at Naa Kahidi Native Dance Performance

We disembarked at Sitka a beautiful southeastern Alaskan city nestled on the west side of Baranof Island. It is flanked to the east by snow-capped mountains and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. We joined the Native Cultural, Historic and Raptor Tour.

Sitka is small but picturesque and its inhabitants proud of their Tlingit Indian and Russian heritage. Our guide was a Tlingit Indian who said he did not appreciate his heritage until he became a tour guide. He is now ensuring his children know about and appreciate their heritage.

There are not many examples of Russian buildings left but we did see the original Bishop's house (a small wooden building) that has been restored. Even the mansion of Count Baranof who headed the Russia-America company and where Alaska was handed over to America is no longer standing. We did, however, see St Michael's Cathedral (Russian Orthodox) which is a replica of the one which burnt down in 1996. The icons and other precious religious items were saved by the townspeople.

We had good seating at the Naa Kahidi Native dance Performance held in a traditional style Tlingit Clan House. The performance began with a resonating box drum, the aroma of burning cedar and the star of the show a remarkable 5 year old boy. The dancers entered in their traditional regalia and performed ancient songs and danced passed down through generations. We learnt of the two main clan divisions the Raven and the Eagle. At the end we all joined the dancers around the fire pit in the middle of the clan house.

We then proceeded to Sitka National Historic Park and after a picnic lunch of local produce were

escorted through the rainforest along totem-lined paths and were told about the rainforest ecology, totem significance and the Tingit/Russian history and traditional edible and medicinal plants.

We then visited the Alaska Raptor Centre, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to educating the public and providing medical treatment for birds of prey. After an interesting lecture we viewed many of the raptors-in residence including bald and golden eagles, hawks, falcons and owls.