Reindeer Games

The plan for the second night was to spend the night in the laavu (tee-pee) outside the house, as this was the traditional type of dwelling for the Saami before they settled down in modern wood houses (see photo below with snow-mobile and laavu in background). They used to take reindeer sleds out to a laavu in the wilderness for the night, but have moved it back to the house to provide visitors with an escape route if they get too cold. We all bunked in, except one of the Dutch gentlemen, who steadfastly insisted that -25C was too cold for sleeping outside. The other 3 Dutch were game, which was impressive given that they are all over 65! Pere-Nils built a huge fire in the middle, which smoked terribly, but it did little to abate the cold. Freezing in a borrowed light-weight sleeping bag, I only last a couple hours (at the most) before I high-tailed it inside. Jordana was right behind me, a victim of the smoke, which was billowing in her direction all night. The others lasted longer, but we were all inside by morning.

Not a great night’s sleep, but we were all ready to go reindeer sledding in the morning. After a hearty breakfast and plenty of coffee, we helped Pere-Nils harness 3 of the reindeer he had brought down from the herd that was off grazing elsewhere. They don’t use the reindeer so much for pulling sleds anymore, and let’s just say that the reindeer aren’t too crazy about doing it. Each of the Dutch couples had a reindeer and sled, and I rode with Pere-Nils behind the wildest one. The method for going, if you can get the sled attached to the harness, is to stand holding the head, then let go and jump on as the reindeer takes off full speed and the sled races by. Full of opportunities for injury, to say the least!

Once going the reindeer calms down and the ride is peaceful. I had to take video as I was amused at their light-footed gait that keeps their wide-spread hooves from sinking in the snow. See it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx8sSSKCdvc

Each reindeer typically carried about 120 kilos, and the Saami would use about 15 to move a family and their belongings from place to place. The front one would be led by a Saami on skis, since there is no steering mechanism. This was shown when the Dutch-driven reindeer took off in a different direction on the way back. Pere-Nils and I chased them down on a snowmobile and he led them back while I drove a snowmobile for the first time! All in all a nice day, where I learned a lot about reindeer and the Saami way of life.