A few days before Christmas we had a wonderful afternoon learning about reindeers and the Sami, the indigenous reindeer herders of northern Norway with Tromso Arctic Reindeer.
The Sami have inhabited the Arctic region across the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia for over 10,000 years. Traditionally, they have had a close bond with reindeers with reindeer herding providing the basis for their economy. There are also Sea Sami who make their living from catching fish and large aquatic creatures.
If you’ve ever watched Frozen 2, the Northuldra people in the movie are some what based on the Sami. We had a very big Frozen 2 phase during 2020, Braino and I probably have more of a sentimental attachment to the movie than the girls to be honest. It certainly kept us entertained during the lock down year of 2020.
The reindeer tours with the Sami run during the winter months and are very popular with tourists in Tromso. We booked our tour via the Tromso Tourism Website and joined 3 other bus load of tourists at the main bus terminal to set off for our afternoon adventure.
The Sami camp and reindeer paddock is about 30 mins north of Tromso, located along the water. After a brief introduction, we were able to fed many of the friendly reindeers in the herd. The reindeers were so sweet and quite slow paced (not like the bossy deer in Nara, Japan). They leisurely ate pellets out of the buckets we were provided with. However the girls were a little nervous about having their big antlers too close. We saw two reindeers locking antlers and fighting but even that seem pretty relaxed.
After some hot chocolate in the dining tent to warm, it was our groups turn to go on the sled ride. The Sami guides led the train of reindeers pulling the sleds around the paddock with beautiful views out across the mountains. The sleds were quite simple wooden platforms with seats and blankets - the girls really enjoyed this part. I had imagined we’d go sledding through a forest but this was still really special.
Once the darkness settled in, all the guests huddled into the traditional Sami tent, a ‘lavvu’, where we were able to try reindeer stew cooked over the fire and listen to stories and information about the Sami culture. This was my favourite part! It was so fascinating to learn about the history of the Arctic and the people who have lived in this part of the world for thousands of years.
Like many indigenous cultures, the Sami have faced persecution and have had to fight to retain their culture and way of life. The Sami religion is similar to Paganism, based around spirits of nature; it came under persecution when Christianity spread across Norway in the 17th Century. The Sami have a special way of singing, called joiking (pronounced Yoiking), it’s similar to a chant and every Sami person has a tune that is unique to them. (Again, it’s similar to what you can hear in Frozen 2) As a big group, we learned how to Joik and sung around the fire.
One of the guides explained how the idea of the tours grew from tourists stopping by the paddocks, asking to pat and take photos with the reindeers. But while the large group did feel very touristy, I appreciate that its a way for the Sami people to earn money while educating the rest of the world about their culture. Being able to get up close to reindeers the snow was obviously a very unqiue Christmas experience for the girls.
If I have one recommendation it would be to book the morning tour so you get a little more daylight, which is better for photos. We left booking a tour a little late and there were only afternoon times available - the daylight disappears around 2:30pm. Alternatively, you can do a tour at night, with the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights along with the reindeers.
P.S: We all really enjoyed the reindeer stew, so much so that I made some more for dinner on Christmas Day.