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The Sahtu embraces the Mackenzie River south of its delta as far as Fort Norman and the tranche of land across to and including Great Bear Lake to the east, the world's eighth largest lake. There's no year-round road access: you either fly in here, canoe the Mackenzie - no mean feat - or sign up with fishing and hunting charters that boat or fly you into the backcountry, home to some of North America's finest fishing lodges and lakes. Great Bear Lake, to name but one, holds world records for most classes of arctic char and for every class of lake trout going (top trout overall - weighing in at 30kg - was caught in 1991). In 1994 a road was built to Wrigley, 225km northwest of Fort Simpson, with plans to push it through to Inuvik, but it'll be a long while before this becomes reality. In the meantime, most tours operate out of the area's nominal capital at Norman Wells , or its near neighbour Tulita (formerly Fort Norman), both on the Mackenzie in the lee of the Franklin Mountains, which separate the river and Great Bear Lake. The area has just three other lonely communities: Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie north of Norman Wells; Deline (formerly Fort Franklin) on Great Bear Lake, a self-sufficient Dene community of hunters and trappers; and Colville Lake , north of Great Bear Lake, a spot which amounts to little more than a few log cabins in the woods. Canadian North (tel 867/873-6900 or 4484, or 1-800/661-1505 in North America) flies daily to Norman Wells from Inuvik, Yellowknife and Edmonton, and within the area North-Wright Air links all main communities from Norman Wells and fly to Yellowknife and Inuvik (tel 587-2333, 587-2288 or 1-800/661-0702, fax 587-2962) as well as offering sightseeing flights
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