Serengeti Shall Never Die

Thursday 15th September we left at 8:30am for a long day of driving. We stopped for gas and had both tanks filled up. The Toyota land cruisers used for safari are amazing. They are a standard land cruiser that has been heavily modified by cutting and extending the chassis to add an extra row, a pop up top for the entire length and larger windows. The vehicle is very rugged and reliable which is good because as we learned the roads are very bumpy and dusty - we saw a lot of broken down vehicles and Ben stopped to help a few folks get up and running again.

To get to Serengeti National Park you first pass through the Ngorongoro conservation area that surrounds the actual crater. This area has less restrictions than a national park and the Maasai tribe are allowed to live and graze their cattle in the area, this was a compromise when the Serengeti park was created and the Maasai had to leave the area. There is a drought in the area and we drove through a lot of dry dusty bumpy roads seeing a lot of young children driving their cattle and sheep looking for grazing. We stopped briefly to see the monument for Olduvai Gorge which is famous for the discovery of evidence of early human species about 1.8 million years old. After the official stop at the conservation entrance for Ben to complete paper work and passes we were lucky to get a clear view of Ngorongoro crater as it is often covered by clouds. We would visit this park after the Serengeti.  

We continued on the long dusty bumpy road with other safari vehicles and a few large blue local busses. The busses use the park road to get to villages on the other side which is quicker than going around the park -  we saw a few of these buses broken down also. 

The park is 14,750 Sq KM, with about half set aside as a wilderness zone with no roads. The entire Serengeti eco system is twice the size of the park and supports the largest unaltered animal migration in the world. The term Serengeti shall never die is the name of a German documentary from 1959 that had a big part in securing the future of the park after the death of 80% of the hoofed animals due to a virus from cattle.  Over a million wildebeest, zebra,  and gazelle complete an annual 1,000KM migration circle following rain and fresh grazing. We learned the wildebeest can smell the rain, so know when to head north, with the zebra following. The wildebeest however do not remember the way back home south, but the zebra do, so in turn the wildebeest following on the way back. Most of the migrating herd were still around the Kenya border when we arrived, but we started to see more returning as there was rain a few times and the area became greener and greener each day. 

Once we entered the park it seemed like all the other vehicles disappeared and Ben showed yet again he is a fabulous guide. We left the main road and explored smaller 'game drive' paths. The vehicles all have radios and there is great community spirit with drivers announcing special sightings. The key is to find out exactly where they are in relation to your vehicle, and decide if you want leave your current treat for something that might have moved before you get there! The views of the Serengeti plains were incredible and we were lucky to find a group of 3 lionesses and 2 young males sleeping in the sun. We spent some time watching in the hope they would wake up, but other than a few head raises there was very little activity. Clearly they were not bothered by the group of vehicles and camera shutter sounds! We saw an older male lion sitting in the middle of a open area just dozing a bit, all waiting for the heat to subside and the evening hunting to begin!

We again had some trouble finding the camp, apparently the park administration didn't like the signs put up by the local camps and wanted to install more natural looking signs. In the meantime there was quite a bit of driving up and down roads and stopping to ask other drivers or rangers. Ben finally worked out we needed to turn down the path with the silver stone to find our home for the next 5 days - our favorite the Kon Tiki tented camp.  

Friday 16th was the start of many extraordinary days, so many the three of us had to work on new adjectives other than incredible and awesome! We started with a visit to the hippo pond and were enthralled to see the hippos bobbing in the water, with the occasional yawn and outbreak of  honking to we assume either greet a friend, or warn off an enemy. 

We spent some time quietly watching a leopard in a tree when Ben heard a report about a small group of cheetahs. (Our Swahili is limited to a few basic words, definitely not enough to understand a radio report). We arrived to see a mother cheetah and three almost fully grown cubs. The mother was walking alongside a group of antelope looking for a likely dinner choice. With the element of surprise gone the four cheetahs obligingly sat on a termite mound for us to view for a while. Suddenly the mother started walking again and Ben (who must be a mind reader of animals) moved the vehicle ahead of everyone else. Within the space of 15 minutes we saw a blur of action. The mother caught a large reedbuck, with a lot of jumping around the adolescent cheetahs killed the poor reedbuck and settled down for a meal while the mother watched and recovered from the run. Then out of nowhere a pack of hyena appeared, chased off the cheetahs and ate the whole reedbuck in about 5 minutes. We will spare you the photos of the horrific event, just know hyena would not make good dinner companions. Cheetahs lose their meals frequently to either hyena or lions.

Apparently it was dinner day on the Serengeti as we next saw a female lion trying to creep up on some zebra and a male lion fast asleep on his back with the remains of a zebra in the grass next to him. As with every day we saw many different birds, small and large and of course plenty of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and antelope. At the end of the day on the way back to camp, after turning at the magic silver stone we saw a very large bull elephant very close to the road. While we were delighted to stop and watch he was quite irritated at our presence and gave us the warning shake of the head. Good thing Ben is a professional and knew this meant "be quiet and leave me alone otherwise I will crush your tiny vehicle!". 

After two very busy days we split Saturday the 17th into a dawn start, and a long lunch at camp instead of staying out all day. Nature gave us a real treat this day with a superb sunrise and an exceptional time watching a lioness and her six cubs. When you look at the album be sure to turn on the volume for the videos to listen to the delightful baby sounds! The adult lions are very comfortable walking past the vehicle, and actually use them as a shield when hunting zebra. The zebra know this so rarely come close to the vehicles.  

After a delightful lunch of fish masala (the food was amazing coming out of a bush kitchen) we headed out for a cooler late afternoon drive. We rarely left with expectations of seeing specific animals, apparently many people do which leads to disappointment. Instead we just drove around to see what was happening. We were lucky again to see a leopard in a tree and a rather cheerful looking hyena just passing by. We started to drive back to camp and were captivated by a magnificent sunset over the mountains. So captivating we stopped for photos and then had to drive quickly back to avoid the night curfew and a possible fine by the rangers. It really isn't safe to be out in the dark in case there is a vehicle issue - makes perfect sense, but hard for us as we didn't want the day to end!

Click here for the photos and videos

(The videos have a small play arrow in the top right, make sure the sound is turned on!)

Wildlife seen: male lion, 5 lions in group, secretary bird, grant gazelle, kori bustard, thompson gazelle, tawny eagle, saddle billed stork, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, black headed heron, sacred ibis, hypo, egyptian goose, jackal, hyena, slender mongoose, hartebeest antelope, leopard, baboons, cheetah (mother and three adolescents), reedbuck, vultures, young male lion, lioness hunting, male lion sleeping, elephants, cape buffalo

Tarangire and Lake Manyara

Sunday September 11th we left Arusha and drove for about 3 hours to Tarangire National Park. We ate lunch at the park gate picnic area since once inside the park there are limited options for getting out of the vehicle - wild animals and picnicking tourists don't work well together.  

We immediately started seeing a lot of animals. Zebras, impalas and wart hogs grazing. Elephants digging for water in the dried river bed which was fascinating. There were some very large bulls and also tiny baby elephants. We saw a lot of brightly colored birds which were delightful. Around 5pm we started to head for the camp, which was a bit hard to find since the mobile tented camps move around. The tented camp was considered fairly basic, but was far above our normal camping experiences, with a king sized bed, a flush toilet and hot/cold shower! Since it had been a hot and dusty day we enjoyed a cold shower and then joined everyone in the main dining tent. We had an enjoyable meal and finished off with very memorable and moving singing and dancing with the six staff members who ran the camp. They even persuaded Sara to participate in the dancing!

Monday 12th we headed out for a day that ended up defying description it was so incredible. We drove to a different area of the park which had a swamp/lake area and was full of wildlife. There were an amazing number of elephant herds, many with tiny babies a few months old, all which came very close to the car as they grazed. We noticed the majority of animals were always moving as they continually searched for food or water. We saw a lion resting under a tree and were amused to see an elephant herd chase the lion off – all in a line with their ears flared and trunks and tails up, even the tiny baby following its mother at the head of the line.

At the end of the lake we saw a specular flock of pelicans fishing and flying. A great way to end the day before beginning the search for the next camp. We arrived a bit late after receiving bad directions from the rangers and driving up and down the bumpy roads. The camp was incredibly luxurious, a massive tent on a raised platform with a delightful dining area.

As we headed out of the park the next day we were treated to the view of a lioness sitting in a magnificent acacia tree. We spent plenty of time watching her, before moving on and then finding four lionesses in a tree, just taking it easy. We spent over an hour with both locations, it takes time for John taking often 100+ photos waiting for perfect shot. Sara enjoyed watching using great binoculars which used to belong to Barry, her sadly deceased brother-in-law. Barry’s binoculars really made the trip for Sara, which along with a bean bag support from John enabled many hours of delightful viewing. Tip for anyone going on Safari – invest in good binoculars!

We had a fast drive on the bumpy roads to the gate as we had to be out 48 hours after entry to avoid a fine. This became a common theme for all the parks as we kept seeing something interesting to stop and view. Good thing Ben was a fast driver on tough roads!  After an easy tarmac drive we arrived at Lake Manyara National Park. A very different eco system, with a large alkaline lake surrounded mostly by jungle. Enjoyable for Sara, less so for John who isn’t overly fond of jungles. We saw elephants up close again which never gets old. Some hippos in the distant lake and many many baboons. Sara was excited to see a horn bill bird feeding its chicks through a crack in a tree, they seal up the nest to protect from predators. 

After an evening drive through the rift valley mountains we arrived at the hotel happily exhausted, about normal for most of the trip. The following day we took it easy in the morning, to rest up for the Serengeti as Ben suggested. We returned to Lake Manyara in the afternoon to enjoy the cool temperatures under the magnificent acacia trees, listening to the noises of the jungle – lots of birds and insect sounds and the occasion young baboon shriek as it was disciplined for some naughty behavior.  John found a small pearl spotted owlet to photograph, which obligingly sat still. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the large baboon families as they went about their daily browsing. The babies were very entertaining playing with each other, and we saw a long line of baboons walking down the road with a baby riding on its mothers back like a rodeo rider. Amusingly when we stopped to watch the baboons they became interested in the truck and started climbing on the back, the driver behind knew Ben and sent him the photos.

Next up will be our time in the Serengeti, which deserves an entire post. For now enjoy these photos.

Click here to view the photos

Wildlife seen: Impala, baboon, zebra, wart hogs, elephants, ostrich, bare face go away bird, bee eater bird, superb starling, tree hyrax (in tree at camp), tawny eagle, lilac breasted roller bird, ground horn bill, lion, marabou stork, goliath stork, banded mongoose, fish eagle, steppe eagle, jackal, pelicans, blue monkey pearl spotted owlet

 

Africa 2022 - Orphan Elephants and Arusha National Park

In 2020 we planned a trip to Africa to celebrate our 25^th wedding anniversary. Covid caused a 2-year delay, so we were very excited to finally started our African adventure on Tuesday 6^th of September. The journey includes 2 weeks in Tanzania on safari, 10 days in Ethiopia with local tribes, a week in Zanzibar relaxing and 4 days in England with family, will be quite a trip!

We didn’t arrive in Nairobi, Kenya until midnight on Thursday 8^th. What should have been 2 days of travel took 3 due to a ticketing snafu with American Airlines that wasn’t identified until we tried to board the Qatar flight in Washington DC. Not an experience I want to repeat, but it worked out with only losing a rest day in Nairobi so could have been worse. Qatar airlines is incredible, and the lounge in Doha is magnificent – a good thing since we had 12 hours there. Well worth using the miles for the business class.

Friday, we visited the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage to join the midday feeding of the 30 young elephants who have lost their mothers and families typically due to human wildlife conflict. Sheldrick has perfected the art of raising elephants as young as 1 month and releasing them to the wild about 8-10 years later. A few years ago Sara adopted Olorien who is now 3 years old. Incredibly Olorien stopped in front of us while Erwin the chief keeper was introducing her to everyone! Sara chatted to Erwin afterwards and learned Olorien is doing much better after some struggles over the last few years.  She should move to the integration unit in Tsavo park soon to continue her journey back to the wild. Sheldrick is a wonderful organization, check out their history and work : Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

After the nursery visit we said goodbye to Lucy our agent in Kenya who had arranged our entire trip, it was lovely to finally meet her after our 2 years of planning. Patrick our driver began the trip to Arusha, Tanzania. Quite a long journey with the obligatory delays at the Tanzania boarder, similar to our transfer in 1998. We did stop for some souvenir shopping in Kenya. A bit early to start shopping, but the one regret from our 1998 trip was not buying some souvenirs at a local shop when we had the chance. We finally got to our lodge around 9pm, about 3hrs later than expected, so after a quick dinner we fell into bed exhausted – a pattern to be repeated!

Saturday 10^th September we met our guide for the next 12 days. Ben is one of those people you like instantly, and he quickly showed he is an excellent knowledgeable safari guide. We spent the day in Arusha national park. Although a small park there were plenty of animals, birds and several lakes, all nestled in woodlands at the base of Mount Meru. Sara took a 1-hour walking safari which she has long wanted to do. Three hours later she returned after seeing cape buffalo, giraffe and warthogs up close, as well as a water fall and many interesting trees.  John and Ben waited in the very comfortable Toyota land cruiser and fended off the blue monkeys who tried to get in the truck through the open roof, they were after the ginger snap cookies carelessly left in Sara’s bag.

It was late afternoon, so we headed to a lovely viewpoint over the lake and enjoyed a hot picnic lunch, another pattern repeated most days. We ventured up the road to an alkaline lake and were treated to the sight of hundreds of flamingos one of John’s favorites. We spent over an hour taking photos and then slowly drove back to the lodge, stopping of course many times for more photos. Luckily Ben likes guests who want to stop and take their time viewing the animals and taking photos. A good thing because that is exactly what we planned for every day. The next post will talk about our four days  in Tarangire and Lake Manyara national parks. Might be a week or more before we have Internet access again as we are heading to Serengeti, so in the meantime enjoy the photos so far!

Click here to see the photos of Sheldrick and Arusha

Wildlife seen: Orphan elephants, giraffe, cape buffalo, wart hogs, dik-dik (small antelopes that mate for life), blue monkeys, impala, zebra, black faced vervet monkeys, saddle billed storks, lesser flamingos (more pink), greater flamingos (white with pinks wing tips)

 

 

Norway - Fjords & Mountains

After we said our goodbyes to Lennart and the Sampi Nature Camp we headed west to Abisko a small mountain town close to the Norwegian border. It was a beautiful location, on the edge of a lake surrounded by  mountains. We woke to a cloudy snowy day, with a forecast for more of the same all day. Hard to take landscape photos in a white out, so we spent the day relaxing and working on photos. Sara went for a short walk on the lake - it was beautifully quiet in the snow.

Saturday 12th of March we started the 400km drive to our next location - Lofoten Islands, Norway. It was a beautiful day, and the drive was full of stunning views. We stopped for a picnic lunch to eat the sandwiches we'd picked up at the grocery store in Sweden, right before driving into Norway. We had been advised to get groceries there because it was cheaper than Norway.  This was a common theme, apparently Norwegians who are close to the border drove to stores in both Sweden and Finland to take advantage of lower prices. After lunch we continued the drive, which was really pretty, but full of narrow, twisty roads, with the sun now low enough to blind us!  We arrived at our cottage after 8 hours, having stopped numerous times to take advantage of the great weather and take photos.

We settled into our cabin, part of an old fishing camp in the tiny village of Hamnøy. We were on one of the small islands at the tip of the Lofoten island chain. The fisherman cabins are called Robu's, and are typically red. The camp had been remodeled to accommodate guests and was very comfortable. We particularly enjoyed the heated bathroom floors that were in all our rooms in Scandinavia. When we originally booked the cabin we had called and asked for one that was north facing so we could easily see any northern lights and for a little additional cost ended up with the most perfect location - well worth the extra! Around 10pm we popped outside to the deck in case there was any aurora out and we were treated to an incredible hour of lights, with the stunning backdrop of the mountains and fjords. We hadn't expected to see any lights in Lofoten as it is often cloudy on the coast, so this was a real treat!

Sunday we had an easy day, driving about 35km to the tip of the last island and exploring the small village of Reine.  Monday the 14th we explored the small villages north of us, enjoying the stunning beaches and watching some  brave people surfing in the arctic water. We drove back to Reine after lunch to take the ferry into one of the fjords. The captain must have thought crazy tourists, cause we sat outside in the biting wind to take videos and photos while the ferry completed its one hour round trip to pick up a few people from the tiny communities on the edges of the fjord. Although it was a cloudy day the views were still stunning. 

Tuesday we explored the fishing village of Nusfjord which includes a lovely café for lunch, and renovated buildings from the 1800's when fishing was the primary activity. It was a beautiful sunny day and we thoroughly enjoyed wandering around. Nusfjord is on the east side of the island, and we next headed to the west side to check out the beaches. We visited Vikten and Utakleiv, where we stayed to enjoy a magnificent sunset. It was quite cold and windy, but the experience was too lovely to hurry, so we stayed until the light was totally gone by 7pm. By the time we got back to our cabin it was quite late, and after a quick dinner we were thinking about calling it a day. Sara popped out to the deck to check for northern lights since it was clear, and saw what looked like the beginnings of something. John hurriedly joined her and we were treated to a stunning display of lights! What a perfect end to the day, we fell into bed around 1am exhausted but very happy!

Wednesday was our last full day and we spent the time returning to a few spots for additional photos, and then drove to Samsund, about 75km north east of our location. There were some fascinating views of the rocky fjords and bays at low tide. It was a rather cloudy day with rain on and off, but we still had an enjoyable time. We had an amusing time in a grocery store after buying a few items and using the self checkout. After walking into the exit barrier which didn't open we realized the receipt needed scanning. Not speaking a word of Norwegian Sara tried to scan the receipt and promptly had hand sanitizer squirted on the paper. Blast! By the time the scanner was found the hand sanitizer had blurred the bar code, so we still couldn't get out. Luckily an employee just waved us out the other side, Sara told her we were stupid tourists, to which she replied "You are not the worst". Just one of the funny experiences from our travels. We returned to the cabin and enjoyed a lovely meal at the local restaurant, including a Lofoten beer.

Thursday 17th of March was a long day of driving. We left our comfy red fisherman's cabin before 9am and drove the 515km to Senjafjord Hotel. It was a tiring 8 hours of driving, with driving rain and snow most of the way. We were extremely glad we had the little VW Polo since the roads were so narrow, and there was frequently large trucks coming towards us. A nasty weather pattern had settled over our part of Norway and the forecast was rain and snow for the rest of the week. We had been so lucky with the few days of clear weather we had in Lofoten. Senja is Norway's second biggest island at 1,580Sq km and is an area definitely worth exploring. Sadly we only had one night, but thoroughly enjoyed the comfortable hotel.

Friday was our last day on Norway. We spent the morning packing our bags trying to ensure each bag weighed less than the required 23kg (50lbs). It is very tough to pack light when you are spending three weeks in the arctic circle! We drove 235km to the town of Tromso. Weather was still terrible with driving rain and quite a bit of snowy roads in one area - good thing we still had our trusty VW Polo with the ice studs. We enjoyed a really fabulous meal at a restaurant just 3 minutes walk from our hotel -  Mathallen in case you are ever in the area!

Saturday 19th of March we flew to England to spend the week with Sara's mum and sister (Christine and Emma). We had an incredible time in Scandinavia - the whole trip exceeded our expectations and we have so many unforgettable memories. 

Click here to see the photos and videos!

 

 

Sweden - Sámi & Reindeer

Saturday 5th of March was our travel day to Sweden. Europcar luckily had the car ready for us by 3pm. Originally we were told 7pm, and we really didn't want to drive 270km in the dark and snowy conditions. We picked up our little VW Polo and managed to stuff all our bags into the back and set off. The roads were covered in hard packed snow most of the way, but it was surprisingly easy driving. We arrived at the Reindeer Lodge in Jukkasjärvi, near Karuna just after dark. 

We were staying in one of five idyllic cottage with a wood stove to keep warm, and access to a log cabin for food preparation and separate buildings for showers and bathrooms. The facilities are run by Nutti Sámi Siida, a family run Sami company who organize experiences based on Sámi culture. They offer this special lodging close to reindeer so there are opportunities to interact with these lovely animals. We fell asleep to the crackling of the wood fire, just delightful. 

The next morning we started the day learning about the relationship between the reindeer and the Sámi people who are an indigenous people who inhabit Sápmi, the areas of northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. We learned the term Lapland is regarded as offensive and often used as an insult by others, so we will use Sápmi going forward. Sadly the story of their treatment, including loss of land, culture, language and overall way of life is very similar to Native Americans and other indigenous people. Traditionally the Sámi were semi-nomadic reindeer herders, following the reindeer as they migrated during different season. Climate change is significant enough even this far north that the reindeer's winter food source is impacted, and the reindeer were starving so the reindeer encounter and the lodging is source of income used to provide supplemental food for the family's reindeer herd. 

After fun feeding the reindeer, with promises for more interactions later we headed out to visit the Ice Hotel. Since 1989 the ice hotel has been creating an entire ice structure with rooms and hallways for people to use overnight. There are rooms with the standard bed of ice and deluxe rooms magnificent sculptures made by artists from all round the world. We had a wonderful few hours looking at all of the rooms, now minus the people who had spent the night sleeping on a bed of ice! We had considered this option, but decided the cost of $500/night too much for a cold night! We did finish off the visit with a drink at the ice bar, including glasses made totally of ice.

We returned to the cabin for a quick lunch, then started our reindeer encounter. Our guide, a young Sámi lady also called Sara picked us up along with several other guests from the Ice Hotel. We enjoyed a 30 minute snow mobile ride through the snow covered forest - and then realized we were back at the Reindeer lodge! As promised we were able to feed the reindeer again - that experience never gets old - and had the opportunity of reindeer sledding. This was a bit different to the dogs, we knelt or sat on a sled, and then with much whooping and hollering, ran round a large circular track. The reindeer started out fast and then slowed to walk which is more their natural pace. We finished up sitting in the lávvu (a tent structure similar to a teepee) with a large fire, and Sara talked about Sámi life while she prepared a traditional meal of flat bread, fried reindeer meet and lingon berries. It was a fun experience and we really enjoyed getting to know Sara and hearing her stories. 

Sadly we left the reindeer on Monday the 7th and headed 120km to the town of Gällivare to meet Lennart owner of the Sápmi Nature Camp where we were staying for the next three nights. Lennart grew up in a reindeer herding family, and wanted to to create sustainable tourism that doesn't threaten the reindeer and the herding, but instead shares knowledge about Sami life – both past and present. Little did we know what an amazing experience we would have over the next three days. We drove 70km to the camp, which offers a personal off the grid glamping experience for a few guests. Our lávvu had a full size bed, a wood burning stove for the day and automatic heater for night and solar powered lights. It was incredibly comfortable experience and we loved getting the fire going in the morning and nights and just sitting there together.  

We quickly learned Lennart is an incredible chef, and he provided three fabulous meals every day. The meals included fish, moose or reindeer, all caught and prepared by Lennart. Even Sara eat a little of the moose and reindeer, instead of staying strictly vegetarian. Meals were cooked and eaten in the log cabin, all very cozy along with fascinating conversation with Lennart. After a walk down to the lake for some sunset photos we enjoyed a very comfortable first night, and determined the lávvu stayed warmer in 24F temperatures than our house in Dallas!

Tuesday we drive about an hour west to Stora Sjofallet national park. The views were incredible, and we were lucky enough to see a moose mother and calf on the lake. We learned that the hydro electric dam built starting in the 1970's destroyed a large area of the reindeers traditional summer grazing - sadly even a renewable energy has impact. We returned to camp late afternoon and met James (UK) and Anna (Czech Republic) who were the other guests for the next two nights. After another fabulous meal and more great conversation we all rolled into our lávvus for the night - we could get used to this level of luxury, and very impressive given the whole camp is off grid!

Wednesday the 9th of March was an incredible day. We started off with the unbelievable experience of spending time with the reindeer herd belonging to Kenneth who is Lennart's brother. The reindeer need to be kept in pastures and fed supplemental food to ensure they survive the winter. Traditionally the reindeer would dig in the snow to find lichen, but climate change has caused warmer temperatures that melt the snow during the day and then freezes into ice at night. The reindeer can't smell the lichen through the ice so can't get enough food. It is very expensive to feed the reindeer all winter, and visits like ours helps provide income for the feed. Sara helped Kenneth feed the 300 reindeer. The bucket of feed was much heaver than it looked, and Kenneth said he uses about a ton of food with the two daily feedings. It was a magical experience just to stand and watch the reindeer, as well as listen to the musical sound their hooves made in the snow. 

After our unforgettable experience, Lennart had one more treat in store for us - a wood sauna and wash. First he showed us how to drill a hole in the ice and pump the water. Next the water had to be carried to the sauna and the hot water tank filled, and the wood fire lit. Two hours later we were ready! We sat in the sauna for a while enjoying the view of the lake, then it was time to jump and roll in the snow - we were threatened with a restricted breakfast if we didn't try this Sámi tradition. No pictures of this cause we held hands and ran out, rolled and ran back inside - plus we were naked!  It was surprisingly refreshing, enough that Sara who typically doesn't enjoy sauna's did it twice! After the snow jumping we washed up in the sauna, using the very hot water now heated by the wood fire. It was a perfect way to end an amazing day.

Thursday morning we sadly said our good byes and headed to our next location. More about that in the next post!

Click here to see the photos and videos

Finland - Northern Lights and Huskies

We headed north on Monday Feb 28th, taking a short flight from Helsinki to Ivalo where we were met by our guide from Aurora Service Tours. Canice (from Ireland), picked up the other guests and we stopped at the grocery store to get food for the next four days. After a 2 1/2 hr drive mostly on hard packed snow roads we arrived in Utsjoki, right on the Norwegian border. We settled into our very comfortable cottages - complete with wood stoves and personal saunas! Later when it was dark we climbed up the viewing tower  hoping to see the aurora, but it was too cloudy so we called it an early night.

The next three nights we met every evening at 8pm in the Kota - a round wooden hut with a very large fire in the middle. We discussed the nights plans with Canice and the other guests, Heather from Wales, and Lena and Noveta from Indonesia. The weather at camp was cloudy every night, but Canice knew locations typically within an hour drive that potentially had clear weather. We found the Aurora is not guaranteed and requires a lot of luck, driving and standing in the cold hoping for the clouds to clear and lights to appear. Luckily Canice took good care of everyone, including providing hot juice and cookies after a few hours of standing in the cold windy night! The first two nights we went south to a parking pull off and did see some good lights.

Our last night the Aurora forecast wasn't very encouraging, but Canice suggested we went north to the top of a pass that might have clear skies and we could hope to see some lights. So off we went in the minibus on roads that are all covered in hard packed snow. Every vehicle this far north has snow tires with ice studs which is critical to drive in these conditions. We arrived at the top of the pass and were met with a brutally cold wind - and also an incredible display of northern lights which Canice said were the best he had seen all year! Lesson learned, you can't rely on the forecast! After several hours of photography we started to head back to the camp, and saw another display of incredible lights that required another stop on the side of the road! We finally got back around midnight after a wonderful experience!

Wednesday morning we spent a delightful two hours snow shoeing in the forest and were lucky enough to see a few reindeer and of course plenty of beautiful snow covered trees.

Thursday 3rd we drove about an hour north east to Tana, Norway for the dog sledding adventure. After a very quick 10-minute briefing on how to control the dogs and the sled we set off with the other people, about 8 sleds. John was sitting on a reindeer hide on the sled, trying not to slide off and Sara was standing up driving, also trying not to fall off. The dogs were really excited and seemed to only know full speed ahead. Luckily, we were the last sled in the group, which meant no one ran up behind us when everyone had to stop suddenly the many times a sled ahead of us turned over.

We had the unbelievable experience of hurtling around the beautiful countryside for two hours. There was one bit of excitement when Sara fell off the back and was dragged about 200 yrds trying to desperately work out how to stop the sled. Good thing she remembered to hang on to the bar, otherwise John could be at the North pole by now! Eventually she managed to use one hand on the foot break and yelled stop with enough urgency the dogs stopped and looked back as if to say, “What’s up back there”. Unbelievably John caught the whole thing on video which we will edit and share later! Overall it was an exhilarating experience with beauty and a sprinkling of terror and we enjoyed every moment!

Friday was sadly our day to move on. We had found out Thursday that Avis had canceled our car reservation back in November. Who knew that a confirmation email actually meant the request was denied? This meant the rest of our trip was potentially ruined as we needed a one-way rental from Finland to Norway from a remote part of the country in the middle of the school break. After a lot of stress calling every car rental company and asking for any size car in a 200 km radius, we were saved by EuropCar, who had a small VW Polo at Kittila airport available late Saturday.

We had already planned to spend Friday night in Kittila, just needed to work out how to travel the 200km without a car. Bus was the cheapest option, but would take 8 hours, and required an overnight stop. Flying back to Helsinki and then north again to Kittila would work at $750, but tough to get last minute flights. What about a taxi? I randomly called a taxi company in Inari, a small village with a population of under 600 people. A delightful lady quoted me 350 euro, and then recommended a cheaper bus/taxi combination. We decided the money was well spent and took her additional advice to visit and eat lunch at the Sami museum, which has been on our wish list anyway. Inari is the center of Sami culture in Finland and also the location of the Finnish Sami parliament. After a fascinating wander around the outside museum, showing traditional Sami buildings and a lunch we were driven the 2 ½ hours to our Kittila hotel. I am still moved by how kind and helpful both the lady and her husband (who drove us) were.  The drive was beautiful, and we were happy to settle in our room – so celebrated with a beer!

Click here to view all the photos!

Scandinavian Expedition 2022

We are really excited to set out on a five week expedition to the far north of Finland, Sweden and Norway, plus some time in England and Portugal! The primary goal is to explore Lapland as the north of the Scandinavian countries is called, and view the Aurora - Northern lights. 

We left Dallas on Wednesday 23rd Feb, a day early as our flight to New York for Thursday was canceled, seemed getting out and spending a night in NY was better than missing our flight to Helsinki. I'll spare you the details of waiting endlessly for a plane in Dallas that was stuck in a maintenance hanger, or waiting for the JFK Finnair counter to open so we could check our four very large bags. Needless to say we were very happy to reach our hotel in Helsinki Friday afternoon.

Saturday we met a friend of Sara's for lunch and had a tour of the area. Tavi used to work in Dallas with Sara and it was great to see him and get updated on his new life in Finland. We spent the afternoon wandering around the city center taking photos and enjoying the coffee and pastry shops that are everywhere. The paths are really icy even in the city and we carefully walked around - didn't want to slip and break something at the start of the trip!

Sunday the 27th we got a transport pass and used the trams to check out some cool streets and a park/marina that was full of people - even a cross country skier. It was a beautiful sunny day and we took the ferry to Suomenlinna Island which has a fortress and buildings built in the mid-18th century and is now a World Heritage site. The fortress has been part of both Sweden and Russia before finally transferring to Finland when the country gained independence in 1917. We had a lovely time exploring the island, glad we had added ice grippers to our boots and warm coats to block the biting wind!

We are now in Utsjoki which is about a mile from the Norwegian border and less than 200KM from Russia.  We are staying in a delightful cottage with heated floors and a personal sauna!  The next three days we will be up late hoping to see and photograph the northern lights. It's been snowing all day today so not sure how lucky we will be, but regardless we are having a wonderful time!

Click here to see the photos!