Husky safari in Finland
| country: | Arctic Circle, Finland |
| location: | Finnish Lapland |
| departures: | 2008: 23 Nov, 30 Nov, 7 Dec, 21 Dec, 28 Dec 2009: 4 Jan, 11 Jan, 18 Jan, 25 Jan, 1 Feb, 8 Feb, 15 Feb, 22 Feb, 1 Mar, 8 Mar, 15 Mar, 22 Mar, 29 Mar, 5 Apr, 12 Apr |
| price: | From £1325 (8 days) including flights from the UK. Price includes airport transfers, 7 nights accommodation in cabins / safari house, full board, 5 day husky safari with all equipment and guides |
read 3 travellers reviews
the amazing things you'll be doing
Quite simply, we love this place and judging by the feedback, so do our clients.
Situated 230kms north of the Arctic Circle, this wilderness hotel combines Scandinavian style accommodation, the warmest of welcomes and a great range of winter activities and wilderness safaris.
Accommodation
Safari houses and cabins: On our husky and snowmobile safaris you spend some nights in shared safari houses or cabins close to the main building. Naturally, you will have access to all the hotel’s facilities. Each safari house has its own shower, toilet and sauna and provides the perfect place to bond with your fellow adventurers before setting off into the wilderness on your safari. You will eat all your meals in one of the main building’s restaurants.
Wilderness cabins: On any holiday which includes an overnight safari you will normally spend the night in a wilderness cabin. Some, but not all, of the cabins can be basic (no electricity or running water) but they are all comfortable and cosy, especially once dinner is cooking and the fire burning. Sleeping arrangements will be in shared dormitory style areas. The cabins are generally so remote that there is little or no light pollution creating the best possible chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis. Despite their far-flung locations, there is always a sauna in the cabins - after all, this is Finland! Please note that we can never specify which cabin you will stay in as routes may change subject to local weather and trail conditions.
Price includes: return flights and airport transfers, 3 nights safari house, 4 nights wilderness cabin, full board, 5 day husky safari, all equipment including thermo-overalls, socks, mittens, boots, warm hat and sleeping bag, fully qualified guides and instructors and a husky team and sled with 4 to 6 dogs.
Situated 230kms north of the Arctic Circle, this wilderness hotel combines Scandinavian style accommodation, the warmest of welcomes and a great range of winter activities and wilderness safaris.
Accommodation
Safari houses and cabins: On our husky and snowmobile safaris you spend some nights in shared safari houses or cabins close to the main building. Naturally, you will have access to all the hotel’s facilities. Each safari house has its own shower, toilet and sauna and provides the perfect place to bond with your fellow adventurers before setting off into the wilderness on your safari. You will eat all your meals in one of the main building’s restaurants.
Wilderness cabins: On any holiday which includes an overnight safari you will normally spend the night in a wilderness cabin. Some, but not all, of the cabins can be basic (no electricity or running water) but they are all comfortable and cosy, especially once dinner is cooking and the fire burning. Sleeping arrangements will be in shared dormitory style areas. The cabins are generally so remote that there is little or no light pollution creating the best possible chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis. Despite their far-flung locations, there is always a sauna in the cabins - after all, this is Finland! Please note that we can never specify which cabin you will stay in as routes may change subject to local weather and trail conditions.
Price includes: return flights and airport transfers, 3 nights safari house, 4 nights wilderness cabin, full board, 5 day husky safari, all equipment including thermo-overalls, socks, mittens, boots, warm hat and sleeping bag, fully qualified guides and instructors and a husky team and sled with 4 to 6 dogs.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Flights, arrivals and transfers. Your adventure starts on Sunday evening when there will be a meeting with your guides who will introduce you to the region and brief you on the week ahead. The meeting is followed by dinner. |
| Day 2-6: | Five day husky safari. After breakfast on Monday you will be provided with all the necessary equipment, including thermal clothing and then taken to meet the dogs. You will be taught how to handle your team and the sled and after lunch you depart into one of Europe's few remaining wilderness areas. The huskies will pull your sled through the beautiful winter scenery close to the Pallas-Ounas National Park in Western Lapland. You will pass through forests, across fells and over frozen lakes and rivers covering up to 40km per day. Only the "swish" of the sled's runners breaking through the snow will disturb the perfect silence and you very quickly realise that you have well and truly left behind the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Overnight stays are in simple but cosy wilderness cabins with no showers, indoor WC or electricity. However, you can relax in some style while dinner is cooking on an open fire as a sauna is always available. Everybody takes care of their own dogs. Breakfasts and dinners are prepared together. Lunches are eaten by open fires on the trail. This far north there is a great chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis and with no light pollution whatsoever the night time sky may provide a picture show that will remain imprinted in your mind forever. Sometimes we have to drag people back into the cabins!After lunch on Friday, the final leg of your wilderness journey takes you back to the relative civilisation of the Wilderness Centre. |
| Day 7: | Free day, optional activities or Lainio Snow Village. After the excursions of your wilderness adventure you may just want a day to relax in the spa and reflect on the experience of the last few days. Alternatively, you can book additional activities. This year we've added the possibility of staying overnight in a snow hotel at Lainio Snow Village. |
| Day 8: | Departure, transfers and flights. Return airport transfers and flights. |
travellers' tales
Being in the Finnish mountains, miles from anywhere and any normal civilisation, lying on a reindeer skin with a husky curled up next to me, looking at the amazing scenery and just seeing snow as far as the eye could see. Truly beautiful. (more)
how this holiday makes a difference
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Tourism in Finnish Lapland has become the main income source of employment and income replacing traditional industries such as forestry. Development from a period of extractive industry to an industrial society has come about quickly. In 1950 the largest part of Lapland’s inhabitants lived in rural areas and more than half the workforce worked in forestry and agriculture. Today 65 % of the workforce are in the service industry, 22 % in processing and 10 % in primary production.
This huge growth in tourism and service provision has been developed in conjunction with a long-term sustainable tourism plan with one of the primary objectives being to maintain nature in its natural state while guaranteeing the traditional way of life. Much of this has been achieved along with membership of EU development programmes, aimed at diversifying sources of livelihood, effective usage of resources and to increase export. Approximately a quarter of Lapland’s 100 000 strong workforce was unemployed in 1997. Promoting entrepreneurship, ongoing re-education of the workforce and development of the educational system to suit the needs of enterprises is continuing. The target is to diversify the sources of livelihood, increase the value of refinement production and develop new enterprises particularly in the area of tourism. National measures as well as EU-programme measures support this objective. We embrace this philosophy, employing local activity providers and using only locally owned hotels. In this manner we help to maintain jobs in an area where unemployment was, until recently, very high. Additionally, the use of local suppliers ensures that the tourism spend filters through to local economies via the tourism multiplier effect. |
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 lead 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. |