Wild Finland '24
On this journey i take you to the wild wilderness in the Taiga (boreal forest or snow forest) on the border of Finland and Russia.
The journey ...of Wild Finland!
We landed in Kuopio (FIN) via a flight from Brussels (BEL) with a stopover in Helsinki (FIN).
After a 2.5 hours snowy road trip we arrived at base camp Kuikka where we met the other team members for our expedition.
After eating the hot meal we immediately left with the jeeps to the hides (about a 30 minute drive). During this ride we cross the border of Finland and arrive in No Man's Land for our first overnight stay in the hides.
The term "no man's land" can conjure up all sorts of meanings, from barren land, unclaimed land or more commonly known as the area between two opposing armies over which no control has been established. The very fact in some cases that these areas are so barren is the sole reason things are left to grow, nobody wants to either live there or have anything to do with that place. The very reason then, that not far from the Russian border Brown Bears, Wolves, Wolverines and other such predators should find a place to live and in most cases be free to roam and live as they please.
During our first evening in the hides we opted for the hides in the open space, when darkness fell we saw the brown bear Priest appear. Priest is one of the largest brown bears in the region, he is said to be around 17 years old and is recognizable by his white fur around his neck.
It was an impressive feeling to see Priest in action so close. After about half an hour he disappeared again into the enormous forest. The forest where the hides are located is extremely remote and large. With an area of 600km by 200km, this forest is the optimal habitat for these animals.
As soon as Priest left we were joined by some white tailed eagles, we couldn't imagine our first evening better. Time to prepare our sleeping bags for a few hours of sleep, set the alarm for 03:30 AM...
Almost asleep we heard sounds again. It turned out that a young bear had arrived on the plain and was hungry.
It was almost dark but we were still able to take some pictures.
9 AM, time to go back to base camp for some breakfast, loading batteries and some resting.
At 4 PM we will go back to the hides.
Now we decided to go for the hides in the woods. All evening we saw no animals, so went for a short sleep in the hide but at almost 4:00 AM it was bingo Priest was in the wood, only this time he came very close. At the closest point he was only 10 meters away from us, so ideal to make some close-ups.
Time to drive back to base camp, getting some breakfast and for a good sauna,
on the way back we could take some arial shots of the place.
We decided to go back to the open fields, maybe we can see the eagles again.
On our bucket list is also the wolverine but this will be very difficult, but lets hope...
After 3 hours in the hide the first eagles where circling around...
ending up with more than 6 eagles in front of the hide
And than in our last evening we where very lucky to see the wolverine..
But every good story comes to an end, time to say goodbye to a nice groep of wildlife photographers,
A big thanks to Michele Bavassano and Just Explores for the nice adventure.
