I REALLY WANT TO SEE REINDEER !

After two futile attempts at photographing reindeer and/or aurora in Norway we decided to try our luck in Finland, actually so far north in Finland that we were in Lapland. We land at Kuusamo airport at around 10am, meaning shortly after sunrise, and it was a white winter wonderland that greeted us as we headed for our cottage in Ruka, a 30min drive north. 

The cottage turns out to be the most beautiful log cabin situated on the shore of a frozen snow covered lake called Hakojärvi. Wow, I could live here if it just wasn’t so damned dark all the time ! The sun is already setting when we go for a short exploratory walk in the snow, it will be gone by 2pm, 4 hours of sunlight a day, oh boy, that doesn’t leave us much time for photography. 

The next morning we have booked a morning feeding tour at Kojalan Porotila a working reindeer farm. The guys in the front seat miss the very clear sign, and we couldn’t see anything, because the back windows were frozen (on the inside that is), so we have to turn back when we almost reach Kuusamo. I am literally fuming from mouth, nose and ears, my biggest wish, my most favorite tour, and we will be late. They can thank the lord its only 5min, or I would have been really pissed. Luckily we didn’t miss too much. 

We get to take some photos of us with a very cute reindeer called Vesco, which accompanies us as we pass the gate and head for the meadow where all the other reindeer are. We just take him on a leash like a well behaved dog. Wow, there are so many, big and small, white, beige, brown checked, spotted, just no striped ones. Some with small antlers some with huge ones. This place is so great, and now all the reindeer head towards us. Okay towards the guy on the snowmobile towing a tank full of some sort of pellets which is their food. We enter and he starts to drive a full circle over the big field. The reindeer race off after him and the food, don’t take another look at us and start eating. It is quite hard to get a nice shot because they are always head down, they keep running about to the next spot pushing and shoving, but just the experience is so very cool. The background is amazing with all sorts of different snow covered trees and the sky is turning a lovely pink. I love it. 

We then get to feed them, some sort of mosses and lychee, which is like chocolate to them. Hold it out in your hand with an outstretched arm to make sure the antlers don’t hit you. They nibble it out of our hands very gently, so cute.

I try to get a head on shot but it hard to focus the camera whilst holding the stuff out. When they see it, they come barging at you like little bulldozers, only food or showing them your empty outstretched hand will stop them. Love it anyway. After that they took us to the reindeer shop, the gloves and skins were great but rather expensive, so we bought ourselves reindeer hamburgers for our dinner tomorrow! 

After a coffee stop, we head north again to Oulanka National Park. We park the car at the Basecamp near Juuma and hike a part of the little bear’s trail towards Myllykoski Mill, the river is filled with little rapids which we hear before we see the water. There are many trails and we cross a hanging bridge, yes even I dare to cross, it is not so high and long, and looks very stable. We go up dozens of steps, then down again, just follow the boardwalk. The guys get their drones in the air for some photos from above which is always a cool and different shot. It is lovely here and with every turn you find a new angle at the river. All too soon we have to head back, it is already getting dark again. Lucky us, on the way home we found some free roaming reindeer in the woods, we tried to get close but they wandered further and further into the bush, so at some point we gave up, the light is gone anyway. Back home we have a late lunch. It is funny you loose all sense of time when it is dark so early. 

Without knowing we had picked the weekend of Ruka Nordic, a FIS event with nordic combination, cross country, ski jump and freestyle skiing. Nothing better to do and never been so close, so we go join the party at the Hiito Stadium and go see. Even met Santa and Mrs Santa there !

The ski jump is amazing, the tower is so high, the ramp so steep, boy oh boy, I will for sure never ever try this, just watching I’m scared. The longest jump was close to 150m and the slope is bare ice, a huge thud when they land, respect guys! The ladies end up in one of the heated tents for a Glögg, a Finnish variation of glühwein, the boys brave the cold a bit longer. On the way back I find a cool angle, (standing on the steps of the toilet wagon, but who cares), where I see the ski jumpers flying past frozen trees, the black sky in the background. We stay put until I get the shot right, and that was pure luck but with a famous Swiss guy called Gregor Deschwanden, in a nice and contrasty red suit. The pro guys with permits were up on a platform at the side of the slope and got even nicer shots, but I’m happy with this one. Then home for a lovely home cooked dinner, no free spots in the restaurants anyway with all these people here. 

The guys spent the night outside photographing northern lights. It wasn’t very spectacular, didn’t move much, but was definitely green. They got some lovely shots. 

The next morning us girls we wanted more reindeer. So the guys dropped us off, very much on time this time, and they went scouting for more photo spots. We got the same talk as yesterday and then walked to the field again. This time accompanied by two reindeer, our lovely docile Vesco, and the very naughty Eric, who kept cuddling up to anybody he could get near to, going for the crotch seemed to be his favorite spot. Halfway there and nobody wanted to hold his leash, you just had to keep pulling him along, away from other people, pushing him away from yourself. So in the end the guide had to take him. Bad luck, no feeding like yesterday, they are getting vaccinated today and will be driven into big pens where we can later feed them.

We enter the big field, we can’t wait to get going. This was actually much better, now they were just standing around, with their heads up! Some ignored you, but most others curiously walked right up to you. They left as soon as they noticed we had no food, but that was enough to get in a couple of nice shots. Then into the pens were we got to feed them the moss again, that was cool. We skipped the shop and went to the parking lot where the guys were waiting in the heated car, they were almost asleep, no wonder after their night shift doing auroras. It is not so cold today, after yesterdays -15°C it is only -10 or so.

They had found a little river with watermill, just after the Rovaniemi turn off. We tried all the different angles, even waded through the shallow waters trying to get the best angle. Just after that was the turn off to the Arctic Runaway Husky place, so we visited. Unfortunately there is so little snow, no chance of a tour. Normally there is 30-40cm of snow this time of year, at the moment it is more like 3-4cm and tomorrow there is rain and it will all be gone. 

So after that back home where we were very eager to check out our photos, then did some relaxing and reading before we started dinner, reindeer hamburgers, and the are yummy!

It started raining in the night and by sunrise all the snow was gone, bugger! The snow on the ice had melted making for nice shiny puddles but just green trees in the background is only mildly interesting. We spent the day shopping and playing cards but the sky is clearing and tomorrow will be nice and sunny again and -10°C, we really didn’t need this +5°C day, but it can’t be changed. The only good thing was the auroras in the night. The app forecasted a zero, but when Jürg looked outside at 02:30 it looked promising and it turned out so good they even came in to get us girls. You could see it with the bare eye, that was definitely not a zero. I tried my luck, but by the time I was outside, dressed up like an eskimo the best part was over, it was amazing any way!

After a late breakfast, the guys did need a little bit more sleep, we headed to the next top attraction here called Konttainen. It is a hill with a viewpoint on top. A circular trail of about 2km, easy. The plan had been to be there for sunrise at 10am, good thing we didn’t because it wasn’t until after noon that the suns rays showed over the horizon. The trip was rather a challenge, the whole path was so frozen it was more like an ice track. Even with spikes we mostly did the Finnish off-road thing, and walked beside the very slippery path. 

The views from the top were absolutely amazing in just about every direction. It is just forests and lakes where ever you look. Some of the trees were a bit white because of the frozen mist which looked rather nice. The guys almost crashed their drones as the propellors froze, going up through the humid warm air got them wet, then higher up it was so cold the propellors instantly froze. Just barely made it down! The hike down was even worse than going up, but we made it. Then hurry back,we have arranged to go ice fishing with the cabin owner. 

The ice fishing is funny, the fishing rod is about 20cm long. They drill a hole in the ice with something that looks like an oversized corkscrew (which you can buy in any size, shape and color in every supermarket here), and then you stand at your hole and dip the bait in slowly moving it up and down all the time.  The ice, to my surprise was still at least 20-25cm thick. It was quiet and peaceful, that was, until the ice started cracking very loudly, no more peace for me. To tell the truth I froze my fingers off, caught nothing and found it very boring,  Jürg must have Finnish ancestors he was doing great, and the people here all seem to love it. 

It was a cool experience anyway and our pro was quietly having fun. Best thing Jürg even caught a fish! It was about 10cm long so no fish for dinner today, but still, he got one, bravo. 

What a wonderful winter wonderland this is, if only we could have had a bit more snow and a lot more light. I guess we’ll have to return! 

For our favorite photos: Go to gallery

 

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