THUNDER BAY -- Laslo Seyda has been face-to-face with polar bears near Greenland, helped raise sled dogs in Norway and may soon meet the rare white rhinos of Kenya but his most challenging assignment so far has been conquering Wabakimi.
The 28-year-old German freelance journalist just spent the last five days in the provincial park on assignment for Free Men's World, a German adventure magazine.
Canoeing, portaging, rapids and camping so far into the wilderness wasn't exactly dangerous but it could have been at any second.
"With all the bugs and blackflies it was definitely challenging but it was pretty intense and good," he said before taking a sailing tour of Lake Superior, now back in Thunder Bay before hearing home Tuesday night.
"Out there in the wilderness on our own without any contact to the outside world we had to be cautious and had to look at ourselves to not get into any danger."
Seyda is one of around eight overseas media that come to the region every year.
The city's tourism department has been working hard over the past few years to showcase the region as an outdoor playground and the city as the hub to get there.
"We are seeing it is a long-term strategy," City tourism manager Paul Pepe said.
"We're starting to see those results now."
Visitors from the United Kingdom and Germany make up about three per cent of the 2.5 million people who visit the region every year.
While it's a small number, those visitors tend to stay longer and spend more money on guides, outfitters and other services than domestic travelers.
"I think it's important for us to reach out and find those avid, dedicated travelers," Pepe said.
Seyda's article is expected to be published in the quarterly magazine in September.
