In Lapland, a region that covers northern Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Finland), there are more than 200,000 reindeer for 180,000 inhabitants. Yes, it's wild! As soon as we arrive, we head for Harriniva, before sinking into Kilpisjärvi, a village of 120 souls in the province of Enontekiö. It is in the far northwest of Finland, right on the doorstep of the Arctic. You put on your snowshoes to walk on the great white coat, where the trees no longer grow... Walking on this immaculate space is very disturbing. In this extreme natural environment, the Lapps are very resourceful. We learn with them how to make holes in the ice to catch fish, we call it “ice fishing”. The grip is good! We cook the whitefish over a wood fire before enjoying it in the kota, a typical tepee, the equivalent of our mountain refuge.
In December, the region above the circle experiences the phenomenon of “polar night” or “kaamos”:the sun does not rise at all! it makes you want to take a siesta, whatever the time of day... But it's not pitch black all the time, you can see the light of day for three hours, it's like twilight, accentuated by the reverberation of the snow. The result is magnificent, red and pink tones invade the sky. The further we go into winter, the longer the days get and the sun shines. And there, beware of sunburn, even at -15°, you have to protect yourself!
It is the solar winds that generate these luminous phenomena. The best time to hunt them? September-October and February-March, when the night is dark and the sky is not overcast. The Kilpisjärvi region is very conducive to observation, they appear three nights out of four! Another curiosity, to be seen here and not elsewhere:Santa Claus. There are several themed villages where the elves and the man in red delight children. Impossible to miss them, they are waiting at the airport!
It's true that it's not hot, but the hotels lend high-performance wetsuits and padded shoes:well equipped, you can withstand these unusual temperatures. In terms of activities, we find the classic joys of the mountains:snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, but also downhill skiing. There is a great resort in Lévi, with a long black run (lit, polar night obliges). The advantage here is that the season lasts from October to May! You can also go hiking, scooter rides, dog sledding (very sporty to drive, believe me!). Slaloming between these white-powdered fir trees is a delight.
We go around pulled by reindeer, we eat reindeer, we dress in reindeer skins...
We're just exaggerating. Some days, we ate this game at every meal:smoked, dried, rare steak, sandwich with cranberry jam... Vegetarians, abstain! To get around, we use sled dogs or snow scooters, or even scooters. As for clothing, you can only very rarely find the reindeer coats that the Sami people, the ethnic group originally from Lapland, used in the past. On the other hand, the skins are still used as insulation and for interior decoration. Here, all the animals are semi-wild, they belong to Sami herders, but the livestock is rarely enough to support them.
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