07.07.2011 – 07.07.2011  16 °C

Our last day on our tour across Sapmi was from Karasjok to Kirkenes. You can drive to Kirkenes one of two ways; through Norway via many of the Fjords or through Finland via Lake Inari, the largest lake in Northern Europe. We decided to return to Finland and see Lake Inari (we figure we are going to see lots of Fjords on the Hurtigruten).

Before we started on our trek we spent the morning in Karasjok checking out the local Sami cultural sites that we were unable to see the previous day. Our day started with us watching our hosts at Engholm’s feed their husky dogs. They must have close on 50 dogs that all live on the property. When I say live I actually mean chained up to their own dog house by a length of chain. It doesn’t seem super humane to me to keep the dogs chained up but apparently there are reasons. The huskies on the property are working dogs and have a very strong sense of being members of the pack. To ensure that the human’s stay as the masters of the pack they need to show the dogs who is boss (hence being chained up). The other key reason is to stop the dogs fighting amongst themselves for dog supremacy (apparently this happens if they are kept of leads?). Feeding time is interesting in that you can hear it before you can see it. The dogs all got fed a good few hundred grams of dry feed and fresh water. The huskies are currently on holidays so aren’t required to do anything except eat and sleep (they don’ t even hop off the chains for a walk each day!)

After feeding time at the zoo we took off to see the Sami Parliament. The parliament is actually an advisory service to the Norwegian government and doesn’t have any status as a parliament but it is a way for the Sami people to ensure they have a voice in the policies of Norway. The “parliament” sits 4 times a year in this purpose built parliament building. The parliament has a president, advisor to the president and secretary as well as the rest of the sitting members. Seemingly the members (even the president) aren’t actually Norwegian members of parliament so I’m not sure how the link works but the Sami people seem happy to have their own parliament! There is a Sami parliament type setup in Sweden and Finland but the Russian Sami’s have no political say in Russia (surprise, surprise) and are apparently treated quite poorly.

We then returned to Sapmi park to learn more about the Sami people’s and their beliefs (although they are mostly Lutheran Christians….) We spent half an hour or so wandering around the park checking out traditional Sami dwellings (tee pee style). We spent quite some time chatting to a local Sami guy who is actually a nomadic Sami! During the summer the reindeer all travel north to the coastal areas to graze and to look after their babies. The nomads follow their herds and move to the coast with them. As the weather starts to get colder the Reindeer know that they need to move to other pastures and so start to trek back southwards (inland). I didn’t realise that Reindeer were so attuned to the changing of the seasons, I assumed that the Sami herders just started to herd them to a different pasture or whatever.. This is not the case. The Sami spend their time following the herd to wherever they want to go. The herds know where they go every year for their winter and summer pastures.

The way of life has also changed for the Sami. In the past, the Sami would have lived in their tee pees (called Luavu) all year round and would have travelled on sleds being pulled by reindeers or by walking. Now days, the Sami have houses at their summer and winter pastures and really only use their tents for the travelling in between. They also use snowmobiles and motorbikes or 4wd bikes to herd the reindeer. One thing that hasn’t changed is that the Sami still use reindeer skins for keeping themselves warm during winter. The Sami guy we were talking to was telling us that last winter it got down to -58 deg and when they heard in that sort of weather they do not use any face coverings!!!! He said they have to be careful to not get frost bite but that they don’t have any issues with their lungs etc!! INSANE! They don’t use face coverings because they block your vision. Blocked vision could lead to his reindeers being taken by wolves or wolverines which are hungry!

Another interesting fact is that you are not allowed to be a reindeer herder (or farmer I think) unless you are Sami in Norway! So you cannot go down to the Bunnings equivalent and pick yourself up a nice Reindeer baby and start growing it! You must be Sami to look after reindeers!

After leaving Karasjok we started our final leg to Kirkenes. The trip itself was fairly uneventful (no more damage to the beast!). The terrain started off quite similar to previous but soon became much more wooded with pine forests and largish mountains. Our drive along the lake was also quite uneventful as most of the lake couldn’t be seen by road! Saw more reindeer (we’ve stopped taking photos by now) and disappointingly didn’t see any moose, wolves or bears… Fingers crossed we might see them further along in our journey..

On our arrival into Kirkenes we decided to do a pit stop to the Russian border to it out. V unexciting… All we could see was the Norwegian check point and the Russian check point must be further into the mountains… V disappointing for Conductor and Bookie as they had both hoped to see something of the Russian border crossing (especially after my story of crossing into Russia from Mongolia).

Finished the night with a wander around Kirkenes and some local pizza for dinner (only 80 dollars for the three of us for tea.. bargain!) Onto the Hurtigruten tomorrow for the start of our last leg of our Arctic Adventure!