Five Day Northern Lights Husky Safari in Harriniva, Finland

Harriniva – Aurora Husky Safari

Flights Included

Details

Details

The chances of seeing the Northern Lights during this epic 5-day dog sledding safari are extremely high. Driving your own team of huskies and staying in wilderness cabins, you will be far removed from any significant light pollution and slap, bang in the heart of Finland’s Auroral Zone.

Can you imagine driving a team of dogs through the winter wilderness of Finnish Lapland before watching the Northern Lights shimmer across the Arctic sky?

This is the stuff of dreams. It is a real adventure, and you need to be fairly fit to get the most out of the safari but, the rewards are immense.

You will join a guide and a small group of similarly minded travellers as you traverse the snowy forests and frozen lakes of the Pallas-Yllas National Park. You will be responsible for the care of your dogs including feeding and harnessing them as well as making sure they are bedded down for the night. The dogs always take precedence, and their needs are catered for before your own.

You will be staying in shared accommodation throughout. The wilderness cabins during the husky safari are not equipped with running water or electricity but once your guide gets the fire on the go, they become a cosy retreat surrounded by the dead silence that comes with deep snow. Okay, the dogs might shatter that silence with the occasional blood-curling wolf-like "aaarrrrrrrr-ooooooo", but it simply adds to the atmosphere.

The morning of your second day is spent preparing for the safari, meeting your canine buddies, and learning how to drive the team and sled, before setting out to your first overnight accommodation out in the wilds.

Once darkness has fallen it is time to keep a regular eye on the night sky. This is prime Aurora territory where the lights are frequent visitors during the winter months. Situated where you are in the wilderness there will be virtually no artificial light pollution providing the perfect dark environment for enjoying the light show.

Each morning, you will harness up your dogs and hit the trail covering between 25km and 40km per day. Surrounded by pristine forests, rolling winter fells and expansive snow-covered lakes, you will find that the happy panting of the dogs and the swish of your sleds' runners are the only things breaking the near-perfect silence.

Breakfasts and dinners will be prepared together in the huts and lunches will be cooked over an open fire and eaten outdoors where it always tastes better.

After five days and four nights of wilderness mushing and night-time sky gazing, you will return to the base at your accommodation for two more nights. During that time, you may well want to try some other activities such as snowmobiling or snowshoeing. There is also the possibility of staying in some rather remarkable accommodation including Aurora Huts at Jeris.

Itinerary

Day1: Flights, Arrival, Introduction

On arrival at Kittila Airport, you will be met by your driver and transferred to your shared accommodation.

Where you stay depends on availability at the time and you will find yourself in either a local hotel or a shared safari house with your mushing companions. If you are staying in one of the hotels, you will enjoy dinner in the hotel restaurant and if you are staying in one of the safari houses, the hotel will provide a transfer to take you to dinner.

Get a good night’s rest after dinner because tomorrow will be a busy day as you meet the dogs, prepare for departure and head into the Lappish wilderness.

Included Meals: Dinner

[KTT] Kittila Airport, Finland To Harriniva Wilderness Hotel

Airport Transfer

Harriniva Adventure Resort - Check In

Day2: Husky Safari

The adventure begins after breakfast when you will meet your safari guide for a full safety and instruction briefing. This will be followed by what is always a trip highlight, meeting your team.

The dog sledding centre is home to something in the region of 450 very happy and extremely well cared for trail dogs. You will hear them before you see them and, as you enter the compound, the cacophony of excited barking, yelping, and howling grows and grows. The dogs’ excitement simply rises higher and higher as they realise that some of them are about to do their favourite thing in the whole world (with the possible exception of eating), run.

The hands-on work starts here but, firstly you will meet your team of either four or six dogs. Each one has its own name and character which you will come to appreciate increasingly as your days on the trail pass. There can be few greater human/animal interactions than between the musher and their team. As you are about to discover, dog sledding is very much about teamwork.

Following the initial introductions, you will load up the sleds and prepare to depart and if you thought it was noisy before, the dogs are about to crank it up to eleven. They will strain at the leash, genuinely fighting the tether that prevents them from speeding off into the wilds. Now is the time to become acquainted with the brake because as soon as that tether is released they will whizz off at a totally unsustainable pace. Keeping your foot depressed on the brake will prevent them from taking total control of operations and show them that you are in charge.

After a few hundred metres, the dogs begin to calm down and settle into a much steadier trot. You can now start to relax a bit too. You should always concentrate and keep an eye out for the guide’s signals but now’s the chance to enjoy your surroundings and embrace the pristine winter wilderness.

This part of the world is characterised by rolling fells, snowy forests and iced-over lakes and these are the landscapes that will be your playground for the next five days. Depending on the weather and local trail conditions, you should cover between 25km and 40km per day.

It is very much about teamwork on the trail. There will be wide open spaces such as frozen lakes where you can let the dogs take the strain and there will be times when you have to be on your mettle. For example, negotiating the meandering forest trails can take a lot of concentration and energy. Your dog team will also expect you to contribute at times. On rising ground, you should be jumping off the sled and helping to push it. The reward for not doing so will be reproachful looks from your team and a slackening of their effort. But hey, nobody ever said that dog sledding was easy!

Once you arrive at your evening accommodation it is all about the dogs. They must be fed, watered, and bedded down before you can even start to think about yourself. Only once the dogs are settled can you begin to get dinner ready and share your own well-deserved evening meal with the group.

Dog sledding is a strenuous activity and with the warmth from the fire, it is very easy to let your eyelids slowly droop but try not to fall asleep too early. You will be in an isolated location far removed from any significant artificial light pollution and with a bit of luck, you will be able to witness the Northern Lights from the perfect vantage point.

To stand outside the cabin or maybe on a neighbouring frozen lake surrounded by darkness and silence is something in and of itself. To do it while the Aurora is dancing across the inky blackness of space is another thing altogether. We would defy anybody to not be moved by such an experience. With a bit of luck, you will get a solitary wolflike howl from one of the dogs just to complete the perfect “Call of the Wild” scenario.

After four nights of wilderness wanderings, you and your team will arrive back at base camp in the afternoon where it will be time to bid farewell to your canine pals. Be warned! This is not easy. The bond that develops between musher and dogs is tight and a tough one to break. Honestly, we have had to drag people away kicking and screaming.

Please note: physical fitness is required for this holiday and you must be 18 years of age or older

To fully enjoy this holiday you do need a good level of physical fitness and acquire previous experience with dog sledding. Temperatures can be anywhere between -5ºC to even -45ºC but the thermal clothing you are provided will keep you toasty warm whatever the conditions. You will spend long parts of your day standing on the runners of the sledge for a few hours at a time but when required you may also be needed to walk/ jog behind the sledge for a short period and help the dogs push the sledge up any short hills (which are few and far between in this part of the world). Anyone with any recent injuries or longer-term medical conditions who would like to discuss the level of physical activity required is more than welcome to speak to our travel experts who have all been lucky enough to take part in husky safaris of varying lengths (and are all manner of ages and levels of fitness too!).

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Harriniva Adventure Resort - Stay