Lapland husky safari holiday, Finland

Planet

This holiday is primarily based around the fabulous dog sled safaris which take place from Saija. This small scale husky operation gives guests a real understanding of the lives of these working dogs and a great connection with the pristine environment in this area. Both the dogs and the natural world are treated with the utmost respect throughout.

The dog sled centre operates in line with all of the veterinary and welfare conditions of Finland and you will get a sense of the amazing bond between the dogs and their mushers.

As an activity, dog sledding has very little impact on the environment and the trails used are well managed and routed. The conditions of winter mean that there is effectively no scarring of the ground from this activity come spring time and the trails are checked regularly to ensure their suitability.

The guides here operate a strict leave no trace policy throughout all of their operations and this is passed on to all guests.

Any campfires are typically held in designated fire pits and wood is responsibly sourced from the forests.

Meals will tend to include some delicious locally sourced produced such as reindeer and salmon. Ingredients such as these are sustainably herded or caught in Lapland as they have been for centuries and such traditions are passed from generation to generation.

As with many places in Lapland there is no daily change of linen etc unless it is requested by guests as they wish to preserve their water wastage levels.

Saija has been designed around an historic steading which has had the accommodation buildings sensitively added in traditional Finnish style and using sustainable timber.

People

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 during this holiday in Saija, 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.

Saija itself operates with a huge sense of respect for the culture and traditions of the region. This area has a great cultural heritage and guests are sure to enjoy this during their stay. They staff are always willing to share their knowledge and wealth of information to ensure guests gain a real insight into this region’s traditions and heritage, we feel that this is an integral element of any visit to Lapland. You will find that the interiors also showcase some local traditional, handicrafts and artworks.