Finland
dated 2018 until 2023
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Rendier Finland 2
2023Reindeer (Rangifer Tarandus) are the large grazers of the tundra. They live in herds and eat mainly reindeer moss, a lichen in which algae and a fungus live symbiotically. In winter, when the tundra is covered with snow and ice, the reindeer are able to remove this with their hoofs in order to reach their frozen meal. Their main enemy is the wolf, who grabs the weaker animals. Originally reindeer were common in all the tundra’s around the North-Pole, but especially in the more southern parts of these regions the animal disappeared. For centuries it was used by man for its fur, meat, milk and as a draught-animal. In northern Scandinavia only four Lapponian families still herd reindeer on large-scale and in a modern manner, for instance with helicopters to round them up in the fall. The sleigh of Santa Claus is pulled by reindeer, and one of them with the name Rudolf, has a red nose. Clearly a namesake, but fortunately my nose isn’t red.....
Báktejohka 1
2023In the far north of Sweden we cross a part of Finland, on the way to Karasjok in Norwegian Lapland. The landscape is empty and silent, with an occasional troop of of reindeer in the verge of the road, or cyclists or promenaders pulling a little cart, still having weeks of travelling ahead on their way to the North Cape. The road leads us along these kind of lakes, with sunlit mountains in the distance....
Báktejohka 3
2018
Muotkajärvi 6
2018Muotkajärvi is a lake in Norrbotten in Finnish Lapland. It is part of a Natura 2000-area and the catchment-area of the river Torneälv, which partly forms the border between Sweden and Finland and debouches into the Gulf of Bothnia. This area consists mainly of forests (taiga) and swamps (tundra) and has an average height of 153m above sea level. On both sides of the border mainly Finnish is spoken and the place-names are Finnish as well. Most of the year the region lies under a thick layer of snow. In spite of this, reindeer know how to survive in this tundra and taiga, scraping lichen with their hooves from beneath the snow.