Bearly Finnish(ed)

In recent years few of my trips have had a focus on wildlife. Considering how much enjoy watching and photographing wildlife I feel like having to do something about that and start planning my next trip where I don’t just visit a city or do something silly like participating in a run.

So I sat down and figured out what kind of animals I wanted to see. Seeing polar bears in recent years was amazing, but that was only polar bears, and there are other kinds to see in the world. Canada is a great source of non-polar bear bear watching, but having gone there twice in two years I wanted to go somewhere else instead. And then it’s fortunate there is a country nearby that has exactly that, so transport gets much easier than having to go across the ocean (again).

Finland to the rescue!

14th of May
Flying out to Kajaani airport barely half-way up in Finland with a layover in Helsinki. Here we’ll be picked up and driven 2-ish hours east to the B&B we are going to spend our time there.

15th – 16th of May

The first two days will be spent doing a couple of short walks in the surrounding forest mixed in with some bird watching. Both late afternoons and nights will be spent in bear hides, where we’ll hopefully get some good views of the bears being active during the late hours.

17th of May
Here we will be driving out to see the environment of beavers, together with the moose and forest reindeer. 

18th – 19th of May
These two days we will be back at spending out nights in hides. We will be moved around in different hides, so it won’t be the same area every time we go out; some of them might be in a forest clearing, another by a small lake, so there will be some variety.

20th – 21st of May
On the last (full) day will be leisurely with not much planned. We will be  visiting the local predator center, an exhibition of the Finnish wildlife, and a stop through the town of Kuhmo. Last day we’ll be returning to the airport for the flight out in the evening.

I think this will be an interesting tour. Not only because I get to see bears (get a chance to see bears, it is wildlife after all) but there is apparently plenty of wolves and wolverines in the area too, giving a high probability of spotting them, too. Also I’m looking forward to how it’ll be in the hides; will I end up getting bored out of my mind or will I actually be occupied for most of the time? Only time will tell!