Finland - Friday 23/11/18

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After breakfast, we were picked up at 10am for a visit to the Kopara Reindeer farm. It was minus 6 degrees, with a windchill of minus 9, so we wore our hired ski jumpsuits and boots.

Our guide gave us a lot of information about the area and reindeer. He collected some lichen for us to feed the reindeer with. In Lapland, there are more reindeer than people (200,000 reindeer and only 180,000 people). He was of Lapis origin, rather than Finnish or a Sami (native).

At the end of the tour, we were taken up to see all the huskies (both Siberian and Alaskan) in their pens. There is no snow at the moment so they are allowed out of their cages to run around for exercise. When there is snow, they get enough exercise pulling the sledges.

We got back to our igloo at midday and had a brandy and coffee to warm up and rest.

During the afternoon, we went for a walk into the village to go back to the Amethyst shop and into a souvenir shop.

After dinner at the hotel, we were collected for our evening tour ‘Northern Lights Searching by Car’. This tour took us out into the wilderness, away from lights, to try to get a view of the northern lights (which didn’t appear unfortunately despite it being a clear night). At the end of the night we stopped by a lake and the guide made a fire in a wooden tepee hut and cooked some sausages for those that wanted them.

Finnish people seem to love the outdoors and go hiking and making campfires in the wilderness no matter what the season.

We got back to our hotel around 11pm and warmed up with another brandy and coffee before going to bed.

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