Wildlife tour in Finland

Planet

In Finland (as with everywhere we go) we carefully choose accommodation, suppliers and transportation that either minimises its effect on the environment or helps to contribute to its sustainable development. By choosing small, privately owned accommodation where possible we also look to only stay in truly eco-lodges that abide by basic and also pioneering methods of ecological sustainability. If we have to stay in Joensuu we stay at the Hotel Green Star which is one of the few 100% eco-friendly hotels in Europe and run totally sustainably. The lodges and hides we use do not have any mains electricity and the generator is only used when absolutely necessary. Where possible, we make sure that the lodges, camps and ranches that we use support local projects for the protection of the wildlife and local communities which rely on tourism as the principal source of income. We make sure that all the food consumed on the tour is locally sourced.

Wildlife Promise:

By bringing people here with a professional zoologist we aim to not just showcase the brown bear and its natural environment in full but also to allow you to learn about the problems facing the bear and other top predators living in the forests here and how cutting edge research is countering the problems as well as showing you examples of success stories (such as the wolverine itself). We also keep a record of all the bear activity we see on each tour and record the environmental factors, this data is used by ourselves but also given to the researchers who work for various universities that conduct periodic studies on the wolverines here. All the information collected in invaluable as the knowledge of this brown bear population very little understood. We also donate our pictures to the researchers to aid in their photo identification studies.

In this particular tour we look to us hybrid vehicles (electric vehicles where possible) as well as staying and recommending the Green Star Hotel when staying in Joensuu (which is one of the few 100% green hotels in Europe).

Our local guides are just that, local on this tour, so their travelling distances to and from the tour are small, the hides and lodges we use on this tour have very small energy requirements, instead of heating excessively they use traditional insulation methods which helps in lowering the energy requirements on the trip.

The vast majority of the food on this trip comes from local producers and we look to reduce the amount of meat consumed on the trip by providing vegetarian meals where possible and more fish than meat.

We plant around 10,000 trees in the Russian Far East each year as part of our on going commitment to reforesting areas unsustainable deforested

People

In all of our tours of Finland we stick to our policies that strive for continued environmental conservation ethics to be upheld by ourselves and all the local suppliers that we use. We look to employ as many local staff in our tours and in Finland we employ the services of local guides, drivers and wildlife photographers. The main lodge (and wolverine hide) owners run very sustainably and produce the vast majority of their own food and fuel. There is no electricity and the generator is only turned on for short periods of time and when absolutely necessary. All the toilets are natural dry toilets which helps to lessen the impact of chemical waste as we are in the wilderness and control of impact on the environment very strictly. All of the lodge owners and guides we use in Finland are independent one man businesses; as a result they have a passion for their activity and with local passion for sustainability they look to pass on lots of historical and cultural information to guests. Any hiking and visits to protected areas that are maintained by the Forest and Park Service of Finland, we donate a fee to them for their continued up keep of the areas and the camp grounds, open huts and other services in the area which local people are using also. We also encourage the purchasing of local handicrafts which are all created in a sustainable way and provide great unique souvenirs.