DAY FIVE
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2025
REINDEER, RELAXATION, AND A MASTERPIECE IN THE SKY
Our first full day in Inari kicked off with a quintessential Lapland activity: meeting reindeer! This part of Finland is known as Santa Claus’ home – lots of people go to visit Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, though that wasn’t part of our grownup itinerary haha. But the dots all connect in terms of Christmas lore as apparently there are a lot more reindeer in Lapland than people! (About 200k reindeer, 150k people)
All of the activities on this trip are organized by the lodge itself. Our itinerary ended up being completely shuffled around from what the Flash Pack itinerary was supposed to be… same activities, but all on different days and times. Planner me doesn’t love a surprise switch-up 😬, but it all worked out well. For each one, we met on the steps at the main entrance to the lodge where we were greeted by the guides from the lodge who’d be accompanying us for that activity. Often, we were joined by non-Flash Pack guests – the lodge obviously optimizes the headcount for each activity to get the most guests in to experience it on the same excursion (which made the switching of all of our activities make more sense), it’s all a big puzzle.
For the reindeer, we gathered in the morning, fully suited up, and hopped in a van to drive a short way to the farm.
When we arrived, we met our Sámi host and owner of the reindeer farm, dressed in their traditional clothing, who gave us a little overview of the place before taking us to meet the animals. This is the heart of Sámi culture, Europe’s only recognized indigenous population, and you can see the influence all over the area. Needless to say, I knew nothing about this culture before this trip, and it was so interesting to learn about them!
One thing I didn’t know is that none of these reindeer are wild – they have plenty of room to wander about, but they all belong to someone’s farm, sort of like people have cows and horses on large stretches of land in the US.
One of the first things we learned is that reindeer LOVE lichen – like an algae/fungus hybrid. Our guide (I wish I could remember her name, sorry!) had a big bagful and we were able to grab handfuls to hand-feed the reindeer. Definitely a one-of-a-kind fun experience!
After they had their fill of a morning snack, we had a good amount of time to walk around through the forest among the herd and take pictures and just take in the peaceful atmosphere.
Speaking of a peaceful atmosphere… we learned that these are all male reindeer, as it was birthing season and the females were all with their new calfs, in a totally separate part of the farm. They’re kept separate because there’s a husky farm nearby, and the constant noise of the huskies really disturbs them to the point of prompting a lot of miscarriages! When we got to meet the dogs two days later, I finally understood this, as they’re so excited to run that they make a hilariously loud racket.
One of the things we learned (antlers…)
After spending time out on the forest, we walked over to a little cottage where we sat down for a while to enjoy a warm berry juice that was heated in a kettle on the fire, and learn more about the Sámi culture.
About Sámi making everything out of reindeer
Leaving the cabin, we took in a few more irresistible reindeer who were hanging around that area before heading back to the van and back to our lodge.
After a buffet lunch and a little rest, our afternoon activity was enjoying the lodge’s sauna and outdoor jacuzzi. Sauna is such a core part of Finnish culture, I was glad this was part of our itinerary as I didn’t get a chance to enjoy it in Helsinki. Truthfully I’m not really a heat person, but it was obviously cold enough here to warrant it. The sauna was nice, but that outdoor jacuzzi that was So. Great. The group split up as there were two saunas and two jacuzzis, and Jennifer, Tracy, both Sarahs and I had a great time with the relaxation and good conversation.
Eventually we had to get out haha, and made our way back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. This meal continued the excellent food we had already come to expect from this restaurant after one day – the artichoke soup in particular was so delicious! I also don’t normally love carrot cake but this one with pickled carrots (who’d have thought?) was exceptional.
Tonight’s activity was one that I was looking forward to the most on the trip – taking a snowmobile sleigh way out to the middle of Lake Inari where the light pollution was pretty close to zero. Obviously we were all hoping for a great Northern Lights show, but regardless I was excited to take my tripod and real camera out just to capture the inevitably awe-inspiring array of stars.
The sleighs themselves are exactly what you’d picture a sleigh to be, four rows of benches with reindeer pelts on the seats for warmth. We divided ourselves across two sleighs, and the guides from the lodge drove the snowmobiles across the frozen lake – they move pretty fast! And I was glad I had my neck warmer/buff thing to put over my nose and mouth because they were also very fume-y!
Arriving at a random (but obviously planned haha) spot in the lake, we got out and really just had the next couple of hours to enjoy the stars and hope for the aurora. There was a campfire set up in the area where they had hot berry juice and marshmallows to roast, and a nearby teepee for warmth.
I pretty immediately set up my tripod and got to experimenting with some camera settings (can’t exactly practice this in light pollution central Manhattan haha), hoping for a few good shots of the stars.
But luck and nature were on our side, as not only did an aurora start to appear, but it eventually took over pretty much the whole vast sky, constantly changing and sometimes ‘dancing.’ It was absolutely breathtaking, and certainly one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my life.
Eventually it was time to pack up and head back to the lodge, but nature definitely didn’t stop giving us a show – every time we turned around there was some new masterpiece in the sky. When we got out of the sleighs back near the lodge, Tracy and I ended up standing outside for a while to take it all in and take some more pictures. My tripod and real camera were carefully packed away at that point, so these are all iPhone pics… I’m still impressed by what it was able to capture!
