Followers ask us about the wildlife in the Scandinavian North that we visit. It seems that in winter also the animal life is less active than in summer. We mainly spot birds: crows, ravens and magpies in their winter dress. We spot an Arctic fox, too far away for a photo, and every now and then we see a reindeer. To compensate for this meager harvest of animal life, we visit the animal park in Ranua, Finland.
Reindeer
Lapland – Sapmi in the Sami language, northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, is the land of the reindeer. We see many warning signs along the road, but no real animals as yet.
We see the first reindeer at the Tromsø Ice Domes during our sleigh ride with Carolina, the young Sami woman who explains the Sami culture to us.
When we drive down from the North Cape in Northern Finland we see the first reindeer along the road. Here the sun is still behind the horizon, so the light for taking pictures is limited.
The further south we drive, the more daylight we get. This way we can admire these foraging young moose in a sun-lit spot on the side of the road.
Ranua Zoo
From Rovaniemi, the residence of the real Santa Claus, we drive to Ranua, there is a camping site at the zoo. The campsite is open all year round, although the receptionist is surprised that we also want to sleep outside.
The animal park is nicely laid out with plenty of space for the local animals that reside here. We take a walk through the park and see, among others, these animals.
Unfortunately, the arctic fox and polar bear don’t show up.