The story starts the way so many stories start in the Balkans: a child, a father who has died, a grandmother, and an uncle who lives in Canada. Spanish actor Maxi Iglesias was six or seven when he first travelled there, shortly after his father's death. From that trip, he says, he kept a fascination with nature and the unknown. This year he went back - this time with an expedition for the TV adventure series Universo Calleja across British Columbia.

An island over 450 kilometres long

The first stop was Vancouver Island, more than 450 kilometres long and almost a summary of all of Canada: temperate rainforests, mountains, beaches open to the Pacific and small towns where life revolves around the sea. In the south is Victoria, the provincial capital. On the west coast are Tofino and Ucluelet, next to Pacific Rim National Park, one of the largest protected areas on the island. On the east coast is Campbell River, known for salmon and for the animals that follow them to the rivers.

This is where Iglesias had his first encounter with Canadian wildlife. While he was in the water, a black bear showed up to fish for salmon. It ended with nothing worse than a fright, but it was a clear message for the rest of the trip: in this part of the world, animals turn up when you least expect them.

An island without electricity and a seaplane over the orcas

Next came Hanson Island - a small, isolated piece of land with no electricity and no running water, barely a building on it and forest running right down to the sea. It is part of the maze of islands and channels along the coast of British Columbia, in waters where orcas, whales and sea lions are an everyday sight. Getting there is an adventure in itself: Iglesias took the controls of the seaplane and flew it over water for the first time, and from the air the group spotted whales and even an orca.

Totem poles beside the graves

The most cultural stop was Alert Bay, a small fishing village on Cormorant Island, where the presence of Indigenous peoples is part of the everyday landscape. This is the territory of the Kwakwaka'wakw people, and their culture can be read in the traditions and in the places that keep the heritage alive - the U'mista Cultural Centre and the old 'Namgis burial ground, where totem poles stand right beside the graves.

Grizzly country

The finale was in the Great Bear Rainforest, which stretches along the province's northern coast: forests, islands, fjords and wildlife you rarely see in one place. Here you travel mostly by water, through channels where you can see whales and orcas in the wild. The main attraction is the grizzly bears: during salmon season they come down to the rivers, and guided tours watch them from platforms or boats - always at a distance. And so ended a journey that, in a way, began several decades ago.

If seaplanes aren't your thing

British Columbia has a gentler side too. Victoria, at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, changes the picture completely: instead of remote forests, there are historic buildings, the provincial parliament and the Inner Harbour, around which the city revolves. The Fairmont Empress hotel on the waterfront is one of its most recognisable buildings, and Fisherman's Wharf with its floating homes adds colour. Then there's the Okanagan Valley, which looks like a different country within the same province: less forest, more sun, lakes, orchards and vineyards. The biggest city there is Kelowna, and further south are Penticton and Osoyoos, already close to the US border.

For many people, Canada is a distant point on the map where some relative lives, known only from phone calls and family photos. How often does that connection become a reason to see this other, wild Canada - the one without electricity, but with orcas under the wings?