Visitors to Manitoba, one of Canada's best kept secrets, will find huge skies, vast expanses of wilderness, thousands of lakes, icebergs, prairies, deserts and plenty of wildlife. In fact, everything about Manitoba screams majesty, beauty and nature at her best. Best of all, hardly anyone else will be there to spoil the views.

The great outdoors
In Manitoba, utter peace and quiet is apparent as you amble around a landscape that is carved up into sprawling rivers, desert dunes and forest. You can travel from sub-Arctic coastline to fields that bloom with a startling patchwork of red, yellow and purple. When the sun sets into the flat, open land, the sky turns similar, sumptuous colours.

This abundance of wilderness is a haven for fauna. Manitoba is home to hundreds of species of birds that flock to the province's 100,000 lakes and marshes. Additionally, you can expect to see wolves, bears, elk, moose, beavers, polar bears or whales, depending on your location in the province.

Manitoba's people
Manitoba is a huge province with comparably few residents but the people that do live there are renowned for their friendly, hospitable natures and diversity. Winnipeg is the centre of the cultural festival Folklarama, a celebration of Canada's ethnic communities. Manitobans are a vibrant international mix, and include Icelandic, Japanese and Italian.

When to go
Although it gets cold and it is sometimes referred to as the 'Great White North', Manitoba is supposedly Canada's sunniest province.