Customer Review: Bears in Finland, by John B. May 2010

“Climbing up a small incline we approach our hide for the evening, here in the ancient taiga forest of pine on the Russian-Finnish border we need to move carefully as our guide, Jano, has warned that Bears could be close by and we need to quickly secure ourselves in the hide for the evening. However, as our small party of 6 reach the larger of the 3 hides, these words dissolve as quickly as our first bear of the evening appears about 20 metres away and the pure excitement of seeing these animals in the wild kicks in and we do the opposite of our genetic instinct and we try and move in closer, as this is the reason we have travelled this far for a short 4 day break in Finland.

Having arrived the previous evening after a flight through Helsinki and Kajanni and a dusk (about 10:00pm) drive through the serene forest and lake environment of eastern Finland we had woken that morning to the sound of birdsong, and the pet Reindeer Martin at our window at the Martinselkonen Erakeskus. Here as an unexpected consequence of the Cold War, this former guard house, has been comfortably converted and is a true family affair with the family providing food and help over the day before the trip to the hides in the evening. After a morning walk, accompanied dog-like by Martin, we spend a happy hour before hot drinks at 12:00 by the bird feeders spotting squirrels, woodpecker, Siberian Jays, gloriously coloured finches and a host of other small birds.However, this is just the warm up act; and after a sumptuous feast of salmon (very much like the bears we will soon be seeing) at 15:00 we depart promptly towards the hide at 16:00. As there is still snow on the ground, we travel part way to the hide on a skidoo and sleigh construction, but due to the weather just starting to warm the male members of the party have to de-camp half way to the hide after a couple of groundings in the mix between frozen and de-frosting ground.

It is after we have all met up again that we have our first bear encounter as we approach the hide. On the first night our party of three had the whole 10 person hide to ourselves with the guide, and after our spectacular arrival we quickly moved into the safety of the hide and were securely locked in for the evening. Within half an hour of setting up in the well-organised hide, another bear arrived, walking in the area in front of the hide, which soon discovered and starting eating the salmon and "Bear" snacks (dog biscuits) cleverly hidden around the small clearing.

Over the course of the next 6 hours we saw around 18 different bears come and go according to hierarchy within the group, with barely any time when a bear wasn't in sight. The number of bear sightings was mainly due to the fact that they had only recently emerged from hibernation so were wanting to "power-snack" their way up to mating weight. We were completely enthralled; it made for a stunning spectacle. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any more exciting, the evening was ‘crowned’ just towards dusk, when one of the alpha males moved in close to a female and her three two-year old cubs resulting in the family making a mad dash up the nearest pine tree. However, one of the smaller cubs wasn’t going to miss out on his food – he made sure he took it with him and then proceed to nonchalantly eat this piece of salmon whilst secured around 75 feet from the ground away from the grumpy male.

When the light began to fade, we turned our attention to getting some sleep. The arrangements were simple – bunk beds each equipped with a sleeping bag and pillow. We each claimed a bed and climbed into our sleeping bags fully clothed. During the night we could hear the sounds of grunting and snorting as the bears continued to eat, which competed with the sounds of snoring from inside the hide.Those of us keen enough then re-commenced watching from around 04:00 and although not the same volume, did manage to see some bears before we were released from the hide around 07:00 and transported back to the lodge for a well deserved breakfast.

Our schedule saw us staying a second night in the same hide where we were joined by two coaches from the bronze medal 2010 Finnish Olympic Ice Hockey team. The hours passed swiftly as we sat enthralled by the antics and inter-play between the bears who we'd now come to regard as friends.

The next day we said our farewells to Martinselkonen, and with Markuus driving were transferred over the next 2 hours to the latest addition in the family business near Kuhmo at Viiksimo called Boreal Wildlife Centre..

Run by Markuus's son Jani in joint ownership with world renowned Finnish videographer Kari Kemppainen the recently converted guard house had only been taking guests for around a month but the place was in full swing with the short season of capercaillie lecking and black grouse. However, despite the wonderful crisp weather the thought of an evening in a small tent hide wasn't why we had swopped location; for us the spotting list here was about the elusive wolverine, wolves (a pack of eight had been seen the previous night), which along with the bears promised a real spotting feast.

The set-up here was similar to the well tested operation at Martinselskonen and we quickly slipped into the routine culminating in making our way to the hide for the evening again at 16:00 but with a slightly shorter trip. Here the hides are located in atmospheric no-mans land between Finland and Russia. This experience offered a more open environment from the previous two nights looking out over rough grass and ponds with the tree line about 1/2 km away on all sides. This created an altogether more wild and isolated experience with the bears seemingly more nervous (whether from the recent arrival of the wolf pack or just their recent awakening from hibernation) and smaller in number but with a very knowledgeable guide and visits from a white tailed sea eagle, a veritable murder of crows and black headed gulls the time passed quickly, and although as nature often does, we weren't rewarded with sightings of wolves or wolverines, over the course of the three nights we had more than our fair share of memories and enough reason to return in the not too distant future.

This is certainly a trip we’ll recommend to fellow wildlife enthusiasts.”

John B. May 2010.

Wildlife Holiday, Bear-Watching in Finland - Click here