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Brown bear watching in Finland

COUNTRY:
Finland
LOCATION:
Wild Taiga
DEPARTURES:
2012: 3 Jun, 24 Jun, 15 Jul, 5 Aug
PRICE:
From £1550 (8 days) including UK flights
MORE INFO:
Price includes flights (flight inclusive package), transfers, meals as stated in itinerary, 3 nights lodge accommodation and 4 nights in hides. This trip can also be booked without flights from £1245.
VOUCHERS:
Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
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Brown bear watching in Finland

Brown bear watching in Finland

Wildlife specialist

This tour operator is Britain’s leading wildlife holiday specialist, offering classic tailor-made and small group holidays worldwide from tiger-viewing and bear-watching to wildlife cruising and African safaris. Established 18 years ago, we use only the best guides, stay in hand-picked lodges and properties and offer ultimate flexibility.

How this holiday makes a difference

Environment

Our wildlife trip is run to best minimise our impact on nature and wildlife. Bear watching is conducted in small groups, with the timings of excursions and contact with bears carefully monitored to avoid them becoming used to humans.

The paths used for walking are on wooden trails to avoid erosion and we use as motorised vehicles as little as possible. In addition, the leaning towards local and Finnish products avoids emission from transfers.

All waste is carried out and recycled as far as possible, and the volume of waste is minimised by avoiding the use of unnecessary packaging material and disposable products. All paper and cardboard packaging waste is burned or recycled. Easily decomposing garbage is composted.

Community

Educating the local community about the role that bears have to play in the Finnish forests is part of their conservation. Traditionally, bears have caused fear amongst local people and it’s vital to show them the positive role that bears have within the local environment; one of which is to encourage tourists to visit and so providing an income.

One of the big problems in Finland is the number of young people who move to the cities to find employment. By using local companies who create jobs for young people in the forest, we are contributing to keeping the countryside and traditions alive.

Most of the food used on this trip is sourced from the local area – Finnish home-cooked meals are offered, as well as local products; bread is baked at the lodge, meat is bought locally, berries are picked by the accommodation’s staff and vegetables are from a local farmer.

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How we choose providers
Brown bear watching in Finland

Brown bear watching in Finland

Reviewed 26 Jul 2011 by Anon4 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


Seeing the brown bears and wolves.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


If they are interested in hiking/walking advise them to ask about the walks in the area as there are some really beautiful walks near the accommodation.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


We were disappointed to hear that the area we were staying in/looking for the bears in was not protected and people are able to freely hunt bears there during the hunting season.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


Nice and relaxing and great to see bears in the wild.

Read the operator's response here:


Many thanks for your feedback on responsibletravel.com, we are delighted you had such a great holiday and would recommend us to your friends.

I have liaised with the country manager and have the following information for you regarding bear hunting as follows:

Unfortunately, in Finland bear hunting is allowed during a short season that lasts from 20 August to the end of October. Licences are issued to hunt a limited number of bears during this period. Hunters are expressly prohibited from hunting mothers with cubs, and are not allowed to bait bears with food. There are currently 900-1000 bears in Finland; the Finnish authorities wish to control the bear population and keep the number at this level, so the number of licences issued is calculated accordingly.

For this coming season 70 bear hunting licences will be issued in all Finland. This total includes 17 for the Kuhmo area, where Boreal Wildlife Centre is located, and 45 for Lapland (a major reindeer herding area) where Martinselkonen – the other centre we use – is located.

At Boreal Wildlife Centre, we use hides located in the border security zone where shooting is not allowed; access to the area is not allowed without an extra permit, so the bears in this area are safe.

Staff at Martinselkonen Wilds Centre stop feeding bears on 10 August, so that the bears have time to leave the area before the hunters come. The bears normally return to the feeding place a few times over that 10 day period, but once they see there is no longer any food, most head over to the Russian side of the border, where they are safe because the terrain consists mainly of thick forest, which makes it very difficult for hunters to move around.

Our Finnish partners are against bear hunting, and do not allow hunters to use their accommodation or indeed offer them any kind of service. Last spring, when Finnish hunters were trying to get a right to hunt bears in spring – when they wake from hibernation – they and other like-minded individuals successfully lobbied the Finnish parliament to prevent spring hunting for the time being.

We and our Finnish partners are doing our best to protect Finland’s bear population, but unfortunately cannot change existing Finnish law.

Do let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Kind regards

Sasha

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Brown bear watching in Finland
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