Brown bear fishing in river, Katmai National Park, Alaska, United States (© Pal Hermansen/Nature Picture Library)

In Alaska, some of the world's wildest wildlife spectacles unfold far from cities and roads. At Katmai National Park, brown bears line the river, and when the salmon jump, the show begins. Created in 1918 after the dramatic 1912 Novarupta volcanic eruption, the park protects more than 16,000 square kilometres of wilderness, including active volcanoes, tundra and salmon-rich rivers.