“Love Is A Four Legged Word”

Today I’m meeting up with Anne from Reindeer journey. And a journey to her farm it is! On our way to the farm, we see not only some reindeers, but also loads of beautiful views and landscapes. the way there was already part of what was going to be a very beautiful day. We even stopped halfway to eat our lunch after we left the Reindeer Journey farm back to Rovaniemi city.

A warm welcome and  a waggling tail

Anna is living in everybody’s dream farmhouse in the middle of the wilderness. When we arrive to the farm, a dog welcomes us with her waggling tail. Martta, the name of the dog, peeks her head around the corner of the car door as soon as I open it. She welcomes us with enthusiastic cuddles and kisses. We get greeted by Anne and she welcomes us inside her inside for some coffee.

As soon as you give the surrounding landscapes of reindeer journey one look… you know why Anne and her family choose to live here. The surroundings are breathtakingly stunning. It’s unimaginable how beautiful the farm looks on this sunny, rainy, and even snowy day in May. When we drive past the farm there are more than a dozen of reindeer’s peacefully grazing on the fields of cross in front of Anne’s home. The grass almost seems golden because of the sun shining and wind blowing trough the small blades of grass. You see the river bubbling and rippling over the rocks behind the house. There are some reindeer skins laying over the wooding railing in front of the house.

Coffee and river views

When we sit down in the kitchen, I gasped at the stunning view of the river that you can see trough the window. That’s how I want to wake up and drink my coffee in the morning as well. Anna is very committed when it comes to reindeer’s and their impact on the environment. Not only is she very passionate about Reindeer herding, she also is the director of the Reindeer Herders’ Association and regularly travels to Brussels to help educate people about Reindeer and their role in the ecosystem.

Anne tells me that she was born in the Rovaniemi area and always knew she wanted to continue to live here in Lapland after her studies more in the south of Finland. She went to live in both Malta and in Oulu for work, but something always made her want to come back to the beauty of Lapland.

How it started

Her grandfather was a reindeer herder and when she was about 18 years old, she met her husband who was a reindeer herder as well and that is when the ball started rolling. The portion of woman in the reindeer herding community is growing and she is very proud to be part of it.

Anne fell in love with the tight knitted community of reindeer herding and the significant role reindeer play in the ecosystem and the world around them. She smiles when she tells me that being a reindeer herder becomes a core part of your identity. I can definitely see that in everything surrounding us.

Reindeers are the core of Lapland

Anne wants to continue bringing new ideas to the Reindeer Journey farm. She tells me she wants to provide team building activities for Finnish locals that include the reindeers and horses on her farm.

She wants to teach and educate people on how horses and reindeer communicate. This way she wants to bring people closer to nature and closer in contact with animals. Reindeer Journey is a small-scale tourism company that wants to be economically sensible while still remaining authentic, small and personal. She wants to do her part in helping people understand what role Reindeer play in the environment of Lapland and what they mean to the nature and community here.

A beautiful last message

“Reindeer are everywhere. Reindeer are deeply connected to Lapland, it’s culture and the nature. Lapland wouldn’t be Lapland without its reindeer, and they belong together. That’s the message I want to give to people.”

And what a beautiful message that is.

With that we finish our coffee. We chat some more about the beautiful starry nights of the Lappish winter and interesting seasons here in the up north.

We go and look at some reindeer that are kept in a very big, fenced area. All the other reindeer are loose in the wilderness, but these few ones are in the fences for different reasons. When walking in between the reindeers she introduces the reindeer to us. She tells me that one of them always gets himself in trouble and that is why he is in the fence.  We walk towards the trees and we soon realise that it’s a very big space. We can’t even see the end of the fence somewhere in the distance.

I had the most amazing time at Reindeer Journey! I want to thank Anne for her hospitality and passion! What a beautiful farm the family has built for themselves.

We say bye to Anne, her husband and Martta and off we go! Back to Rovaniemi City.

 

⇐ By Kaat Vandeweyer/Visit Lapland ⇒