Hunting the aurora borealis with Dene guide, Joe Buffalo Child

The aurora borealis is one of the most spectacular and breath taking sights in the world. People travel all over the globe to find the best place and the best chances to see this mysterious wonder. Some will be lucky if they enjoy only a brief sighting. But for some, like Joe Buffalo Child, who is the original Aurora Hunter, the aurora borealis is like an old friend that appears in the night sky where they live, almost every night.
For Joe, the lights are part of his culture, his upbringing, and his connection with nature and our planet. His ancestors taught that the aurora has spiritual significance and that they are a gift to the people, meant to bring reassurance and peace. Joe offers tours for guests who visit Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories that are truly unique. When guests from Ontario, Canada connected with Joe, they were taken into the remote areas outside Yellowknife where the skies were unaffected by the lights that are so common in most parts of the world. The darkness provides a better opportunity to enjoy the northern lights in all their splendour.
Aurora hunting is an art that involves using scientific weather data and experience to find the spots with the least cloud cover and best locations for an unobstructed view of the lights. The aurora can be unpredictable in when and where it will appear. Being able to move and "chase" the aurora offers the best opportunities.
This footage was taken by two Canadian tourists who traveled to Yellowknife because they dreamed of seeing the lights dancing in their full colour. What they didn't expect was the added enjoyment that came with Joe's storytelling and cultural perspective on the aurora and it's meaning in his Dene culture. Joe narrates as we enjoy a visual display of nature's most revered phenomenon. Joe has a charisma and a talent for storytelling that adds to the experience. His skill at delivering aurora sightings is impressive in every sense.
Auroras are the result of disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Solar winds change speed as a result of coronal holes and coronal mass ejections, disturbances on the sun's crust. Charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma precipitate into the upper atmosphere of earth. The result is the emission of light of varying colour. However we view what causes them or what they mean, they are beautiful beyond description.