On our arrival saturday in Kittila, we were welcomed by Lars who drove us to Rajamaa. We were assigned nice and cosy cabins. Every day, we enjoy very good meals, made of local and typical tasty dishes. Hats off to the cook ! Our guide Keijo arrived on sunday morning. He took us for a long walk on the frozen river by -30, on a very sunny, bright and colorful morning. Keijo showed us a lot of tracks and animals and explained us a lot about wild life in Lapland. On monday, we went to Pallastunturi. It was very cold and windy but the walk was worth it ! We had lunch with sausages grilled over the fire inside a tepee. We enjoyed beautiful landscapes and had a sauna in the evening, back in Rajamaa. On Tuesday, we took off quite early as we had a 4h drive to norwegian fjords near Tromso. The landscape changed along the road, from heavy snow on pine tree forests and frozen rivers, to bare mountains and streaming rivers and fjords. We were amazed by the magical colours and lights reflecting on the waters at sunset. After a very good codfish lunch, we went to a secret spot and started a long -but vain- wait for auroras in the evening, and then went for a very long drive back to Rajamaa. Many thanks to Keijo for this very long day ! When we woke up on wednesday, snow had been falling all night. Everything looked very quiet and peaceful, it was a fairytale landscape. After breakfast, we went to meet forest-saami Henrick Sevä, reindeer herder, and his wife Anna, husky breeder. We shared a typical delicious reindeer soup Henrik cooked by the fire inside a kota, and met Wally Wallnut the reindeer. We had a very interesting discussion with Anna and Henrik about Saami culture and heritage, as well as the modern challenges they have to face. The forest looked majestic with the deep snow cover. As for now, we are still looking up for northern lights. Finger crossed !
— on 13 marraskuun, 2019
