Brown Bears in Finland - feeling of the original Nordic.

Fly to Kajanii and drive 2 1/2 hour to the east and you find yourself on the border to Russia. In Kajanii you can see the old Neo-Gothic church that was build in 1896.
Kuikka base camp is the starting point for wildlife photos. Good food and beds we never used was things to remember. The owner, Lassi Rautainen, could not believe that the Norwegians hesitated to use his sauna. "Perkele helvete" was the expression he used when describing what he ment when nobody wanted to use the sauna one morning.
Photo shooting took place from one of many photo-hides around in the area. Two - three eager photographers are lined up along the front in the hide - bunks in the back. After dark it is just to move  back and sleep the night there -  no need to sleep in the base camp.

Every day, at ca. 16.00 hrs we where divided in groups and transported to the photo hides. There we stayed the night and drove back ca. 8.00 hrs the next the morning.

In the early morning it was very quiet. One could hear the raven sitting in the surrounding forest.
The raven is an expert in making different sounds that brakes the silence. Then it is quiet again.

More ravens suddenly brakes the silence and startes gathering in the dead trees in front of
us. Here they sit and wait for the bear to come and starts tearing apart the meat into small
pieces the ravens can pick up.

Out from the forest the bear enters the scene. Before entering the open the bear
stays partly hidden in the forest and checking the area. After making sure that it
is safe he comes out of the forest. He watches the ravens - they are there and
telling him it is safe to enter.

Standing partly in the forest the bear checks the open area where there is food.

Bear at the lake is impressed by its own mirror.

A wolf is passing in the forest.

Nice scene with trees and bear are reflected in the calm lake.

A sparrowhawk takes to its wings. Something over there to hunt?

Sea eagles are also coming to search for a bite or two.

The bear is a good tree climber. What a beautiful animal we where fortunate to
meet here in the "no mans-land" between Finland and Russia.

Svalbard March 2015

Svalbard on land using snowmobiles to get around became an unforgettable experience. During our fife days we covered ca. 550km. The very nice cabin, Nordenskiold hytta, was used as basecamp.
Leaving Longyearbyen we drove up Adventdalen, through Sassendalen before entering Tempelfjorden. Passing the "ship in the ice" and continued north and finally to our cabin.

Looking out Billefjorden.

This baby seal was born 2 weeks too early. The mother could not be seen during
the time we spent there. Unfortunately this little cute seal did not make it.
Two days later we came back here but it was not there. Probably killed by seagulls
and/or a fox. Nature do not have cute - not cute, beautiful - not beautiful in
its vocabulary.

The first meeting with the polar bear in Tempelfjorden. This young lady
seems to a very effective hunter. Two days before our arrival she had caught a seal.
This morning she caught an other seal.

She never walked far from her pray.

The spectacular glacier in Tempelfjorden.

Svalbard reindeer in Gipsdalen

Our third meeting with the polar bear. This day she was very playful. She was
enjoying herself playing in the snow.

Looking for pray.
Three days after this picture was taken she was killed. Early in the morning
she came into a tent and grabbed one of the tourons out of his sleeping bag.
His friend shot and wounded the bear. People from Sysselmannen came to the site and finally killed
the bear. Most likely the campers did not post a guard outside their tent.
The attacked person only got a few scratches and could see the famous eclipse on March 20th, the polar
bear could not.

Reindeer running in the sunset.

The Tempelfjorden glacier in the mist.

Beautiful light on the tops of this mountain in Billefjorden