Farewell to Finland with a day of Sámi culture, Anár (Inari)

Zagan the motorhome is a mere 8 kilometres from the Norwegian border. He is making the most of his last night in Finland by parking for the night at the Kevo Strict Nature Reserve (N69.39365, E26.11219). Strict Nature Reserves are areas that have been established for conservation of nature and research, and you aren’t allowed in most of them. However this park is a haven for backpackers due to its canyon-esque gorge valley. As the shortest trail is 64 kilometres long, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing much of it…(it’s now almost midnight and there are loads of cars parked up here, we’re in the middle of nowhere, so where is everyone?)

Parking, loos and bins – we’re being spoiled for our last night in Finland.

We spent our first ‘night’ under the 24 hour sun yesterday. It’s a very strange sensation, blacking out the van as much as you can, donning eye masks and trying to sleep while you know it’s bright sunshine outside. We’ve been going to bed later and later each night as 11pm now feels like 7pm. The excitement of the un-setting sun played havoc with Jay’s mind around 3.30am this morning and he was compelled to venture out to photograph it.

3.38am sun

After a late night photography session, what better way to wake yourself on a Monday morning than a dip in an arctic lake. Jay’s howls as the chill hit his body echoed around the water, waking the rest of the world too.

Heavy skies for Jay’s morning dip in an Arctic lake

We’d arranged to meet Richard and Jenny at the village of Inari, or rather that should be the village of Anár as it is the Finnish home of the Sámi and that is what they call it. We squeezed into the packed car park which was 60% motorhomes, followed closely by a massive adventure truck and then Richard and Jenny. After an obligatory photo with the truck, we wandered over the to Sámi Parliament building and had a look around the local crafts in the souvenir shop as the doors to the rest of it were closed and we daren’t open them in case parliament was in session.

Sámi Parliament Building

The rest of the day was spent wandering around Siida, the Sámi museum. Here we learned about the background and culture of three different Sámi people (the Inari Sámi, Skolt Sámi and North Sámi), who each have their own language and culture. We discovered how the closing and moving borders between Norway, Finland, Sweden and Russia, changed the way they live and also learned about the flora and fauna in the region; how they survive the cold, dark winters and non-stop daylight summers.

I can’t wait to get a clear night so we can watch the sun not set

Many animals change colour for the winter here to help their survival

The array of blood sucking creatures you’ll become familiar with after visiting Finland in the summer

At 2pm the little theatre filled up with people, then went dark. It was the darkest space we have been in for days which made it a bit tricky to stay awake. For the next 20 minutes we watched the Aurora Borealis dance its way across the screen accompanied by Jean-Michel Jarre style music. Jay and I have been fortunate to see the Northern Lights in person, as they appeared on the last day of a snowboarding trip to Finland a few years ago. So while the show could never match the real thing, it was a strange trance-like experience. I wonder if they show a video about the mid-night sun if you visit in the winter time, sort of a cross-selling ploy to tempt you back in another season?

Old Style Sami sledge

Modern Sami sledge

This was taken when we were last in Finland in 2010, we were so lucky to have seen it

After the show we grabbed a quick coffee and pulla (traditionally a cinnamon bun, but ours was covered in blueberries) to recharge our batteries before heading into the outdoor museum area. Under a constant attack from mosquitoes (Richard and Jenny where already badly bitten from walking in a Nature Park, so scratching and swatting was dealt with in one swift move) we looked around various wooden cabins that were once home to Sámi people before being dismantled and rebuilt at the museum. Food stores, homes, justice buildings and of course a sauna, were followed by the various traps they used to catch reindeer, bears and wolverine.

Sami hats worn by unmarried women (left), married women (centre) and widows (right)

Traditional Sami tunic over a bed that pulls out to become a double – campervan style thinking!

Small food store – the ladder is hidden to stop animals getting at the stocks!

Watch out for the rabid reindeer in the reindeer hut

While the whole place was really informative, it’s sad to say that my favourite thing was trying to lasso a reindeer. This is probably in no small part due to me being able to do it first time, I would say a natural, but then every time after that I missed.

First go – she’s a natural!

The race to get those horns

We bid farewell to Richard and Jenny who are heading to campsite for a couple of days. A quick trip to one last tat shop for a final Finnish souvenir, and a nip into K Market to get the deposit back on the cans we’ve drunk so far saw us ready to go. We headed off in search of somewhere to sleep, a task which soon reminded us of Goldilocks – that place is too close to the road, that place has no view, that place has two big barking dogs… then finally after an hour or so we found a place that was just right.

A different way to look at the world shows us how far north we are (we’re at number 1 at the top of the Nordic countries)

The landscape around has been changing as we drive through it these past couple of days. After weeks of very little other than trees and flat land the earth is starting to lift up. We get some idea of perspective from glimpses of other hills covered in trees in the distance before we descend back into tree-lined road. The last road today was a thin ribbon of grey tarmac, which bucked like a long straight roller coaster.  Finally the scenery is starting to be scenic again, and I can’t wait for what there is to come.

I really didn’t know what to expect when we arrived in Finland. I thought we’d be through it in a week as there wouldn’t be much to see. I was very wrong. It’s a wonderful, relaxing, big, safe country where nature is the main feature, to me the towns are just there for services. I have loved my time here and would pop back in an instant if it wasn’t so far away.

Ju x

Bonus pic – this beastie was in the museum car park, couldn’t resist a photo. The owner then came back saying his perimeter sensor had gone off and alerted his phone – oops, that’ll be me leaning on the tyre then, sorry!

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