Northern Lights (Narvik to Tromsø, Norway)

A pedestrian title perhaps dear reader but a legitimate one nonetheless. Northern Lights is a 2018 song by Death Cab for Cutie. The musical intro goes some way to capturing the swirling, spiralling light. Have a listen. 2018, I know, I'm almost relevant musically. Don't despair, it probably won't happen again.

How's the serenity?

The return to the ship on dusk was quite spectacular. As we approached the darkening port carpark, the ship with its vast array of lights was silhouetted against the arctic backdrop and there was a beautiful mirror reflection on the still waters of the fjord. 

From the bus, we could see a fire blazing on the dock. A welcome back on board BBQ? A beacon to guide us back to the ship? A Sámi traditional ceremony? No, it was a small fire pit around which the ship/port security staff were huddling to keep warm in between screening guests on and off the ship.

Jayne thought it was a light to guide our way.

Tromsø

We sailed through the night once again, dear reader, to arrive, by lunch time the next day, in Tromsø, AKA the gateway to the Arctic. This is Norway's largest city within the Arctic Circle and the second most Northerly port on our itinerary. Our passage into this city revealed a fjord coastline almost totally occupied by waterfront houses, leading into the main settlement area.

A colourful hillside coming into Tromsø.

Tromsø is much larger than Narvik and the city straddles an island and the mainland, connected by a streamlined bridge that arcs over the waterway, just adjacent to the dock. The bridge is vital to the operations of daily life in Tromsø and in fact, if it closes due to extreme weather, the city grinds to a halt. Keep in mind, what we call extreme and what the locals call extreme are two radically different things and the bridge is very rarely out of business. As we have been told several times, up here, there is no bad weather - there is only bad clothing! 

Tromsø from the Cathedral

It is said that visitors from the South, surprised at the sophistication of the community and its cultural pursuits, have termed Tromsø the Paris of the North. Hmmmm ... not so much. Tromsø is, however, certainly more picturesque than Narvik and its desirability as a place to live is reflected in its real estate prices; in Norway, it's ranked second only to Oslo.

Citizen Science

The first excursion of the day was a solo one. Four hours wandering the frozen woods outside Tromsø with a biologist from the Arctic University doing bird things. Who would have thought Jayne would not be interested? Today we were installing nesting boxes for the local populations of tits, specifically the Great Tit and also removing some other boxes that don't make the grade.

Arty shot. Oh, come on, flowers are not a thing.

Optimistic as always, I brought the 300mm lens, hoping to photograph some of the local wildlife. Arriving at the bus, I immediately experienced lens envy. One of the other passengers had a 500mm lens. 

Picnic anyone?

Seven hardy souls and our guide set out for the forest which is on the main island and is surrounded by human habitation. There is a recreation area before you reach the wooded area that contains an ice hockey field, a basketball court and a picnic area. Currently, the depth of snow has rendered some of the facilities useless.

I could slam dunk on that court.

The paths in the area are well worn. Skiers have their own paths and right of way. We strapped on our snowshoes and our guide led us into the snow, explaining the concept of the project as we walked. Or, more accurately, crunched. The noise our shoes made would scare off any wildlife braving the conditions.

Note the ski path. Lock in and go.

The forest is, at present, still naked and barely showing signs of spring. The snow is still deep on the ground and snow shoes are a necessity once you deviate from the established paths. We stopped to examine droppings and tracks in the snow. Fascinating. We saw evidence of the Norwegian White Grouse (ptarmigan), hare and otters. Aside from a magpie and some jackdaws (crows), birds were not visible.

That is the handle of the spade 1.5m into the snow.

It was all very scientific and we used an app to locate, roughly, where the boxes were, although a keen eye helped. Before a new box could be placed on a tree, it was necessary to check the depth of the snow. We were placing boxes at about the 1m mark. In the summer, a ladder will be required to see if the box is inhabited.

A bird nesting box in place.

This project is being run by Wild Lab Projects. They are involving citizens in a number of different projects, all worthwhile, all focused on nature and ensuring the damage humanity does is minimised. Check out their website here.

The work we did today was insignificant really. However, if more and more people get behind projects such as this, the impact will be far greater. The money I spent participating was well worth it and I will be looking for similar projects back home.

Northern Lights at a Sámi Camp

The second excursion of the day commenced after dark and involved a bus ride, for both of us, out of town to Camp Tamok. This is home to a Sámi family, traditional owners of the Sápmi lands that form part of Norway, Finland, Sweden and Russia. During this excursion, they share with cruise guests an experience of the Sámi lifestyle, culture and the chance to see the Aurora on land away from the city lights.

We were greeted by the father of the family who invited us into their communal lavvu to sit by a warm fire, drink some tea and be introduced to the rest of the family. Especially his daughter Carolina, who unlike many Sámi children, has decided to remain in the traditional lifestyle. She works with her father to maintain the reindeer herds as well as supporting the tourism aspect of their existence.

Our host in traditional dress.

Together, they led us out firstly to meet the camp dogs who were extremely friendly and receptive to all the attention from our tour group. We were cautioned not to feed them anything, not that we had anything to offer, but physical interaction was encouraged. Each dog has its own kennel with its name on it, set out in rows just along from the lavvu. While they were quiet when we were with them, later, after we were inside again, a chorus of howls would periodically commence and increase in volume - a little bit unnerving for the uninitiated. The Sámi paid this no heed so apparently this was not an alarm about some impending threat.

I'm not from around here and I'm cold.

Next we drove a short distance from the main camp to meet some of the reindeer herd. These creatures, like the dogs, were very excited and receptive to group interactions. We could pat them but were warned to look out for their horns which might unintentionally get in the way of a close up greeting.

Reindeer and the northern lights.

The Sámi had already flagged that the Aurora was active tonight and on the walk over to the reindeer enclosure, the opportunity to again capture their shimmering images presented itself. This was achieved despite having to constantly dodge other wandering group members as well as the far reaching spray of snow that a road plough crew delivered all over us as they cleared the road. We could just imagine the workers laughing at the out-of-towners trying to run through the snow to escape a torrent of road slush, cannoning across the dark, snowy landscape.

A lavvu and the fading lights.

We then headed back to the lavvu to eat a traditional Sámi stew, bidos, consisting of a variety of locally grown vegetables and the lovely creatures we had just been patting a short time before. Well, not those exact reindeer, but certainly a relative. Not only are reindeer nice but they also taste good too. Bidos is always served as part of the Sámi wedding feast - a celebration that often gathers literally hundreds or even thousands of family members from across the Sámpi lands.

While we ate, Carolina told us about many cultural Sámi aspects including how intrinsic the reindeer are to their existence. In Norway, the Sámi alone are allowed to keep reindeer and while they obviously know their herds well, the reindeer are only semi-domesticated. Carolina then informed us that we had met only a small part of the herd - the majority were inland some way off because it is too warm near the coast for them (it was a mere -7° outside). The warmer temperatures result in the snow melting and setting, thus losing its powdery quality, which makes it too hard for the reindeer to dig down to find pasture to eat.

Lavvu in the foreground.

The reindeer provide food and clothing as well - Carolina was wearing boots she had made herself from reindeer hide which are waterproof and lined. She was also wearing a Sámi belt from which a knife hung. This was given to her by her father and is a vital everyday tool both in her work with the herds but also domestically. Even though Carolina is only in her early 20s, she has been in possession of her knife since she was a small child - "If you're old enough to walk, you are old enough to own a knife." How would that translate in the US? Just asking.

The office at Camp Tamok.

The father spoke with pride about his daughter working with him but he explained that his herd is quite separate to her herd - neither can know exactly how many reindeer each owns as this brings bad luck. The child receives a reindeer from the parent each year as a birthday present.

A last flash of colour before it's gone.

Carolina explained the symbolism of her traditional dress decorations which denote your Sámi tribe. The dress is usually made out of wool but again, Carolina's dress was a different fabric because the weather was too hot for wool. Aside from the knife, her Sámi belt sported round silver buttons to denote that she is unmarried - square buttons are for married people. In addition to the buttons, Carolina showed us a silver necklace that she always wears as the Sámi believe that silver protects its wearer. Parents never let their children venture out without some item of silver.

Exit through the gift shop.

They also spoke about their voice in the Sámi Parliament and their foundational connection to the Aurora and nature. More on this in the next post. Too soon, it was time to board the bus to drive back to the city and the ship, but the opportunity to hear indigenous people talk about their life and culture was really worthwhile and a highlight of the journey thus far.

Until next time.