Sweden
| country: | Sweden |
| departures: | 2006: 24 Feb |
| price: | From £995 (5 nights) including flights. This cost is based on a group of minimum of 6 paying clients up to a maximum of 8 persons. |
the amazing things you'll be doing
We have got together with one of Sweden's leading wolf researcher's, Ronny Backaeng, to offer you a fascinating winter alternative to the annual skiing pilgrimage.
Putting on cross country skis and start to track wolves, wolverines and lynx and other wildlife in the snow covered regions of central Sweden – all over a long weekend!
Go wild in the snow covered taiga forests of Sweden's Dalarna and Halsingland regions where some of Europe's most celebrated and rare mammals including Lynx, Wolves, Wolverines, Arctic foxes and Brown Bears live. This five day tour is based from a comfortable hotel and is accompanied by a Ronny Backaeng, a leading Swedish wildlife specialist. It includes a visit to the Glonklitt Predator Centre, wildlife tracking on cross country skis and looking for golden eagles, an excursion by dog sledge, fishing in frozen lakes and a chance to see the painted skies of the Aurora Borealis. Each evening you will have the chance to relax from your exposure to the cold and recover in indoor saunas, and an outdoor sauna at temperatures of –25° centigrade, whilst laughing and recounting the day's new experiences.
This tour aims to give alternative opportunities for sustainable conservation through small scale tourism cooperation, and create an alternative to the normal practice in Scandinavia of shooting wolves at every opportunity.
Putting on cross country skis and start to track wolves, wolverines and lynx and other wildlife in the snow covered regions of central Sweden – all over a long weekend!
Go wild in the snow covered taiga forests of Sweden's Dalarna and Halsingland regions where some of Europe's most celebrated and rare mammals including Lynx, Wolves, Wolverines, Arctic foxes and Brown Bears live. This five day tour is based from a comfortable hotel and is accompanied by a Ronny Backaeng, a leading Swedish wildlife specialist. It includes a visit to the Glonklitt Predator Centre, wildlife tracking on cross country skis and looking for golden eagles, an excursion by dog sledge, fishing in frozen lakes and a chance to see the painted skies of the Aurora Borealis. Each evening you will have the chance to relax from your exposure to the cold and recover in indoor saunas, and an outdoor sauna at temperatures of –25° centigrade, whilst laughing and recounting the day's new experiences.
This tour aims to give alternative opportunities for sustainable conservation through small scale tourism cooperation, and create an alternative to the normal practice in Scandinavia of shooting wolves at every opportunity.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly from London Heathrow or regional airports where possible. Arrival at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm. Here you are met by a representative and taken to catch the train north to Mora in the Dalarna region, a trip of about 3.5 hours. In Mora your guide Ronny Backaeng will meet you and transfer you to the comfortable Kungshaga Hotel, a countryside hotel south of the village of Orsa, with a panoramic view over Lake Orsa itself. This personal owner occupied hotel is run by an experienced German-Swedish couple who speak several languages. The rooms are differently decorated and each has private facilities. The food is excellent and the bar is well stocked. There is a big, cosy sitting room, as well as a small sauna and a billiards room. Here you will be briefed by Ronny with information about the programme for the coming days, about the region's wildlife and of course clothing required in this northern area in mid winter! Dinner at the hotel. |
| Day 2: | After breakfast preparation for tracking, with skis fitted and winter outfits tried out. You will then travel to Gronklitt Predator Centre by vehicle, where the predator experts will join you in illustrating the predators in this centre. Here you will view all the Swedish predators; Brown bears – at this time in their dens – Arctic fox, Lynx, Wolves and Wolverines and get some appreciation of what you will be tracking. In March if the time is right we may visit the bears in the artificial den and see the newly born cubs. Here there are good possibilities for photos from the bridges linking the centre. Gronklitt is normally closed to the public at this time but will be opened for you. Lunch will then be taken at a typical old house with a wonderful view over the frozen lake and winter landscape. In the afternoon you start tracking the wolves by setting out from an appropriate spot on your cross country skis, and suitably clothed to keep out the cold. The terrain is small hills and valleys and cross country skiing is quite easy to master, using your own trekking boots and special binders. Reasonable fitness is required for this activity. Ronny knows the territory well here and you will follow the tracks and study the left-overs and other signs of predators which can give you a picture of the life of these predators. In the late afternoon back to Kungshaga Hotel for a well earned sauna and dinner. |
| Day 3: | The whole day today from easrly morning is spent out in the wilderness, tracking the wolves and other species and also looking for taiga forest birds like the Ural and tengmalm's owl, grey headed and three toed woodpeckers, capercaillies and the occasional Golden Eagle. Days are of course very short here at this time of year so the most use of each day will be made. You carry a picnic lunch and continue to go where the wolves take you before returning back to the hotel for much needed relaxation and a good sauna after the day's skiing. A representative from the Scandinavian Bear Project will lecture about the interesting life of bears after dinner. |
| Day 4: | In the morning Ronny will come to the hotel with dogs and sledges and you will be driven by sledge down to Lake Orsa, where you can learn to fish through holes in the ice. Again a picnic lunch is taken before you are driven to the town of Mora on the shore of Lake Siljan, Sweden's heartland and the regions largest lake. Later we visit Nusnaes, where the famous Dala horses are bred before we travel back to the hotel for dinner and a tour evaluation.Tonight Ronny will arrange for a large bath, in a big barrel, out in the open air under the stars and hopefully a spectacular painted sky of the Aurora Borealis. (which cannot be guaranteed!) |
| Day 5: | For those still keen and if time permits a further short tracking on skis before transferring back to the train station for your return to Stockholm and the Arlanda airport. Catch your flight back to London Heathrow or regional airport. |
this tourism business won an award
in our 2005 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine.how this holiday makes a difference
Climate Care In addition we ensure that all travellers are 'carbon neutral' requiring them to pay a levy to Climate Care on each flight sold. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |