Lapland (Finland and Norway) - June 2001
- - Click on photos to see a larger image. - -
The following
description and photos of Lapland are from a tour taken with the California
Academy of Science. There were 15 members in the group, plus the leaders,
David and Beverly Kavanaugh. The local tour service in Finland and Norway
was provided by Finnature Oy Ltd (www.finnature.fi),
who provided excellent service. Our guide, Kari Lahti, was with us throughout
the trip, and was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and natural
history in general. His specialty was botany. In addition, two specialists
on bird identification were added, Antti and Toni, each accompanying us
for half the excursion.
After a change of airplanes in Helsinki, we arrived in Oulu, which is
on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, and began our tour. The bus
route is shown on the accompanying map as a solid yellow lineflights
are shown as a dotted line. We drove to Kusamo and Ivalo in Finland, and
then on to Vardø in Norway. We then returned to Ivalo by the a more-northerly
route, and competed the bus tour. We stayed several days in each of these
locations and explored in the surrounding areas. From Ivalo we flew to Helsinki
and spent a day there before our return flight to the US.
Many of the group were avid birdwatchers ( I classify myself as a "casual"
birdwatcher except for raptors). The participants as a group saw 158
species, while I myself counted 135 species as having seen them well enough
to look in the field guide (Lars Johnson, Birds of Europe) and conclude
that what I saw was as described in the book.
The following photos illustrate some of the interesting sights observed
during the course of the tour.
June 3, 2001
Our hotel and the Oulu library from Hiatasaari (Sand) Island. This photo
and the following photo were taken in the evening at approximately 11 PM.
Looking immediately to the right of the library , one sees the Oulu performing
arts center and market square.
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The following
description and photos of Lapland are from a tour taken with the California
Academy of Science. There were 15 members in the group, plus the leaders,
David and Beverly Kavanaugh. The local tour service in Finland and Norway
was provided by Finnature Oy Ltd (www.finnature.fi),
who provided excellent service. Our guide, Kari Lahti, was with us throughout
the trip, and was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and natural
history in general. His specialty was botany. In addition, two specialists
on bird identification were added, Antti and Toni, each accompanying us
for half the excursion.
