Yaks to Reindeers

It's the arctic! A beautiful unique landscape and very different from the Himalayas where we live.

Starting in Oslo, we had a couple of days before heading north. Early one morning we walked to the port on Oslo Fiord to see the lovely blue color that lights up the dark winter sky. The old Akerhus Fortress lights up the back ground, and below a canon stands ready on the hill above the port.

The City Hall building in Oslo is where the Nobel Peace prize is given. The stark architectural style was built between the 1930s and the 1950s which is indicative of the period.

Inside City Hall where the Nobel Peace prize is given there is a lovely mural above the doors that over looks the Pier and Oslo Fiord in the photo below.

A short bus ride along Oslo fiord heading southwest took us to Vollen where we visited the Oslo Fiord museum.
Nearby we stopped at an artists house that had a strange collection of books on the outside of the house.

On to Tromso; and the first early morning view from our hotel window was of the Arctic Church with lights shinning across the harbor in the blue glow.

It was a long day with meetings at the Arctic Frontier that is held in Tromso every year. Our team of Yak herders from Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet with translators arranged a side event for indigenous reindeer herders around the region. Besides Norway they were from Russia and Finland. 

Our group members gave short speeches about their herding practices, difficulties, climate change, and what they think the future will hold. 

Our friend from Bhutan demonstrated how she controlled her yaks. She brought several special hand made items that she uses. She was so composed. She had only been as far as the capital city in Bhutan and only then twice. Unable to read or write she held her own and was fascinated by all her new experiences.

One group photo from the cell phone shows the Sami, Evens and Russian herders that attended. Evens are from far eastern Russia they subsist on reindeer herding and move from place to place.

After a long day of meetings we quickly put on layers of clothes, grabbed the cameras and headed out to see the Northern Lights.



One group photo under the lights and the stars - ouch it was so cold!

Next day we drove to a nearby island and met with the reindeer herders. 

We boarded a modern snow sled covered in reindeer skins and sped up the hill to meet the reindeers.

They brought the reindeers to us by giving them a special tree moss and food pellets that they seemed to love.  

The yak herder from Bhutan got very excited when she saw the moss, and said she gives the same thing to her yaks.

The food pellets are dropped from a small tractor into the food tray and the reindeer jostled for a feeding spot.

They Sami explained that the horns were not only on males but females also have horns. A bit of rope was used to show how they catch the reindeer.

We enjoyed some photo time with the Sami.

Reindeer or caribou have special feet, they become harder for snow and softer for mud. The feet are said to be delicious to eat, but I will skip that.

Speaking of feet, reindeer skins make classy boots and leggings, they are warm and water proof.

The Tibetan yak herder reaches out to touch the reindeer. He enjoyed everything so much and had a wonderful sense of humor but none of us except Dr Long could understand him.

Time to go - the sled drops off one group and returns to bring everyone to the coffee shop where we can warm up.

This was a wonderful stop with waffles, coffee and lovely glass art work.

Everyone is still bundled up inside but getting warmer after coffee and waffles. 

The drive back was beautiful. We were at the place where the fiord meets the ocean and it was windy, extra cold and rough.

Hard to imagine living here on the water. The dock at the small shed was covered in ice.

Almost back in Tromso - the light is so special here. There is a blue glow in the morning or at this late time a reddish gold area in the sky. The sun was up for only 5 minutes during the day but the glow remains.

From the cable car across the fiord we could see how spread out Tromso was.

We walked across the bridge in the background to get tot he cable car on the opposite side. A good brisk walk but the only way I was going back was via a warm bus.

An amazing trip full of surprising places, varied colors and warm people.