Wild Taiga wildlife holiday in Finland
Description of Wild Taiga wildlife holiday in Finland
This Wild Taiga wildlife holiday in Finland is a tailor made trip, for a week, led by wildlife experts with superb knowledge of local species. These include European brown bear, otherwise known as the king of the forest, wolves, reindeer and elk. You may even be lucky enough to see the elusive wolverine.
In this wild area of Northern Finland, right up near the Russian border, there are approximately 1500 bears, 180 wolves, 300-350 wolverines and 850 reindeers. You will also hopefully see signs of beavers, minks, and there are also thousands of elks. The bird watching here is also second to none, especially between May and the end of June.
During this Taiga wildlife holiday you will spend a total of four nights in wildlife watching hides, which have comfortable seating, a bed and a dry toilet. Your guide is also an expert in the ecosystems of the taiga forests, and is a font of knowledge on the history of this region, lakes, peat bogs and cultural heritage. There are many stories to be shared while sitting up into the night waiting for wildlife to appear, over coffee and Finnish snacks.
Your main base on this trip is Lentiira, a tiny traditional village which is surrounded by lakes and where you will also stay in our wilderness cabin. We offer these tailor made holidays between 15 May until 20 August.
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Reviews
1 Reviews of Wild Taiga wildlife holiday in Finland
Reviewed on 24 May 2019 by Lynn Freeman
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The nights in the bear hide, seeing what I had most hoped for, bears, a wolf and a wolverine. Thrilling!
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Sabrina is a superb and knowledgeable host. Outstanding.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes absolutely. It is an excellent example of eco tourism as its absolute best.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Responsible Travel
Planet
The company’s home base is in the tiny village of Lentiira in East Finland located near the Russian border. The area has a varied wildlife and nature including valuable boreal forest, the Taiga.Many rare European animals such as wolverine, wild forest reindeer, elk, flying squirrel, European brown bears and wolves can be found in our region. During our excursions we not only provide scientific facts about these animals, but we also relate associated traditional tales and beliefs to our guests as they see how we lead our everyday lives amongst such wildlife.
We encourage our visitors to keep an open mind as they get to know our wildlife, to understand their behaviour and to respect and protect the environment in which our wildlife lives. Our company has been engaged in compiling one of the first Codes of Conduct for wildlife tourism in Finland that sets out how to behave to ensure the implementation of safety and wildlife protection measures in wildlife tourism.
Our company’s own practices are even more strict than common guidelines and we use them without exception. We know the safety distances of different animal species that we must respect to guarantee that wildlife watching is safe and stress-free for both our customers and wildlife. For safety reasons and to ensure the comfort of all our customers, alcohol and other intoxicating substances are not permitted on our excursions. Smoking is prohibited in and near the hides.
People
Our guides are trained and experienced; to implement our varied program we cooperate and use specialist guides and entrepreneurs, e.g. wildlife, husky and canoeing guides. We also cooperate with our local nature conservation association, village association and the national Natural Resources Institute Finland. All the guides working for us get fair wages and the co operation is supporting both us and the other small companies in the area.Our company donates euro per every visitor to European wildlife protection funds, FERUS in France. WWF or Finnish nature protection association.
We shop in Kuhmo town and also buy locally produced food and natural products, such as berry juices and fish, from local people. We follow the local tradition and pick berries and mushrooms found in the forest and bogs. When doing this we leave the easiest places in our village for the local elderly people and go a bit further to collect these treasures for us and our guests.
We tell our clients about the local traditions and crafts and advice them where to find locally baked goods and crafts. One popular souvenir is woolen stockings and wooden cup named kuksa.
Company owner has been a member of the local nature conservation association since 2005 and we organise small events (nest box building, guided nature excursions, birding excursions, and a nature adventure trail for children) on a voluntary basis for the villagers, our guests and anyone who wants to participate.
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