Family summer adventure holiday, Finland
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
On the berry picking tour we learn local berries and mushrooms. In the evening our chef will prepare you a meal from these ingredients also you may wish some specialty you have in mind. Picking berries and mushrooms is a very good income for the locals and we also buy a lot during the summer/autumn time different berries and mushrooms. For the free day we encourage our clients to use bicycles (free of charge) instead of driving with the taxi to the Kuhmo village.
To lower our carbon footprint we recycle all paper, food etc., use compact fluorescent lamps, use regular taxi for airport transfers. We also encourage our guests to avoid too much laundry. We have still our own laundry room and that is also a one way to minimize the use of water. At the hotel we minimise energy use by turning off lights when not in use. We use as much as possible energy efficient light bulbs. We also minimize energy use by giving our guests an opportunity to change the hotel room temperature (+/- 3 degrees) by themselves. At the hotel we are now negotiating about turning our heating system to Geothermal power, we are all excited about this change in the future.
The history behind the hotel:
Hotel has been built 1989 after a long process of Finnish Tourist Board and many other parties finding a place in Finland where to show people the unique tradition behind Finland’s national epic Kalevala. At the same time was also our neighbour Kalevala Spirit Experience park been built. An architect-competition was organized in a theme trying to find a model of a hotel which would both respect the tradition and also scenery and nature. Architect Ilpo Väisänen won the competition with his work "an Eagle -myth from the national Epic of Kalevala".
Today, if you look the hotel from the air perspective you can see nose and head of an eagle is looking towards lake and the other wing of an eagle is the new wellbeing department. This eagle is still awaiting for the other wing, the original drawings are ready and hopefully in the near future we complete this project by building some more rooms for that wing. The hotel is made of concrete and wood in a very traditional way respecting both the scenery and tradition as much as possible. In the 1989 when hotel was finished the building won a title of best concrete building in the Finland.
Community
The hotel works very closely with local companies. Some of the safari providers are independent one man businesses. They have a passion for their activity. They have grown up in the area and can pass on lots of historical and cultural facts. They have a great knowledge of their surroundings and the nature, which they enjoy to pass onto their clients during the activities so as they get the best out of the experience. All our tours have been planned together with these local companies. Our hiking route follows the land maintained by the Forest and Park Service of Finland. For each tour we pay funds for them which they use for maintaining the area and the fireplaces, open huts and other services in the area which local people are using also. By these fireplaces our guests usually meet the locals as well.
Our partners (transportation, food, activity companies, etc.) are all from the region. We buy and use as much home produce as possible, e.g. berries, mushrooms, fish. Our rye bread has been created together with the nearby bakery and the white bread is baked in a hotel kitchen and can consist sometimes specialties such as angelica, nettle, oat, carrot. Decorations such as flowers, cones, lichen, stones and bark all come from the surrounding nature. At the hotel we have a small souvenier shop including also handmade things from the locals (woollen socks, drawings, wooden articles etc.)
The hotel works very closely with all Wild Taiga members. In 2008 Wild Taiga won the title of Finland’s Emerging Tourist Destination of Excellence in the European Commission project European Destinations of Excellence with the grounds: “The local everyday culture and way of life lie at the core of the destination, with the close relationship with nature constituting a strong dimension. This destination exploits local cultural knowledge, involving strong cultural and arts events alongside other cultural factors. It represents an innovative, networked operating mode, being clearly organised and striving systematically towards jointly established targets, the achievement of which is monitored. The destination works in a sustainable mode in relation to the environment, taking account of practices promoting ecological sustainability.”
During this trip our guests have a chance to see a local home of our guide Reki-Pertti. He lives by the lake where you also learn some basic nature tasks: fishing, how to make a fire etc. all basic things locals do year round. These tasks are to be taught for adults but especially for children. We also leave few days free for families to visit local museums (Kalevala information centre, Winter war museum) and local shops in the Kuhmo village. During the summer, mid June – mid July, there is daily a small concert at the Kuhmo arts centre played by local young musicians. This is a traditional programme where our city gives young people a chance to perform before starting their professional study in Sibelius Academy etc.
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