Our final full day in Lapland! And this was to be a special one because finally we were going husky sledding! But as this wasn’t planned until midday, we decided to take the short taxi ride into Inari to visit their celebrated Sami Museum , known as Siida, which was indeed very good! No pics of the exhibits unfortunately, but this local artwork took my fancy – right up my alley!
The museum included an open-air exhibit of traditional houses – which was very interesting to see, though unfortunately we had to explore it in a hurry as our return taxi was waiting. Lots of Christmas-postcard opportunities here!
Our next excursion was to the husky farm which was some 20km out of town. It was absolutely fabulous! First we were introduced to the sleds and especially how to slow down the dogs and fully stop the sleds – an important lesson – as we soon learned once we got on the ice because the dogs were so excited to get going that it took all our strength to keep them from bolting with us on board!
Niran and I took turns at passenger and driver, and Calum likewise shared a sled with a young Belgian boy. We were each allocated a team by the handlers, and I’m sure that the boys were purposefully given the slowest pack to avoid them from getting into any (predictable) mischief. They ended up at the back of the group – often miles behind all of the rest of us – much to their chagrin!!!
The cacophony when we approached the dogs was ear-splitting!!! They knew they were about to go for a run and they were so incredibly excited! Each team was released one by one and we had to hang on for dear life as they got going. But then absolute silence from all of the 6 dogs as they started to pound the ice. It wasn’t long before the weather started to turn and soon we were sledding in a snowstorm. I can’t describe the experience. It was hard not to feel that you weren’t some kind of arctic explorer sledding through an arctic wilderness. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would experience this in my lifetime. It was exhilarating – very cold – and absolutely unforgettable.
You can’t but admire the immense strength of these animals. They knew precisely what they were doing and we had absolute confidence that they would keep us safe. Every once in a while one of them would turn around to look at us – just checking that we were still OK. What wonderful animals! And as we later discovered – incredibly affectionate and gentle as well – despite their fierce appearance and brute force.
The night was beginning to set in as we arrived back at the camp. We had few hours to spare before the next adventure – a trip out to the edge of Lake Inari to experience the Aurora Borealis. What were the chances? We hadn’t really seen any lights since we had arrived – every night had been cloudy or snowing…
We set off by snowmobile sled into the dark night arriving at the camp after about 20 minutes. Our Finnish guide of course started a campfire and invited us to roam at will along the frozen lake. Almost on command the show began – and presto the northern lights! It was awe inspiring as the constantly moving band of green luminescent light danced above our heads. The three of us spent the next two hours out on the ice trying vainly to photograph the spectacle and then giving up in exasperation and just gaping at the sky. It was bitterly cold and so beautiful! We had to keep pinching ourselves. How lucky were we! My photos don’t do the lights justice – this is what I have so far. What a night!
