February 2024
Visiting the Sami Reindeer Camp with Tromsø Arctic Reindeer – Tromsø, Norway
One of the unique animals to the Arctic Circle is the reindeer and sighting one on a trip here is definitely on the wishlist. A way to accomplish seeing the reindeer in person is visiting the Sami Reindeer with Tromso Arctic Reindeer. Offering tours during the day and in the evening throughout the winter season, this experience offers guests the opportunity to interact with the reindeer and also learn about early inhabitants of this region, the Sami. This includes transporting guests from Tromso to the camp to learn about reindeer and the Sami culture, along with a feeding and sledding experience.
With both day and evening options, I really wanted to book this experience for the evening as it afforded us a good viewing opportunity to see the Northern Lights. At the time of booking, the first night of our trip was the only night available so it took the guesswork out of where to place it in the itinerary. Leading up to the trip, it also ended up being the only clear night sky predicted so I was even more hopeful that we may get a glimpse at the Northern Lights away from the light pollution of Tromso, especially since it was looking like our only chance to see them.
Pick up in downtown Tromso is along the harbor, similar to most other excursion pick up / drop off locations, at the Rorbua Pub next to Radisson Blu Hotel. There was a massive group of people waiting for staff to check us in. I knew this was a popular experience and there was definitely concern of being herded to this camp for a disappointing, tourist trap night. Staff began checking people in and assigning them to one of two coach buses. We were given a slap on bracelet that indicated we were going to the reindeer with a sledding experience and boarded one of the buses. So of the giant group of people waiting, it appeared that they had more than one experience that people were embarking on.
The 25 minute bus ride gave us a good opportunity to take a nap before reaching the camp. Upon arrival, we were greeted by staff who took our group into a tent warmed by a roaring fire and seating all around. We were given an outline of the program for the evening before exiting the tent to see the reindeer. They broke our larger group into thirds so the first third would experience the sledding while the other two thirds would feed and interact with the reindeer, then after the sled experience, the slap on bracelet was collected and the next third would rotation to sledding until the entire group was complete. We sledded last so we had ample time among the reindeer.
Everyone is given a bucket – think typically beach pale for sand type bucket – full of special pellet food for the reindeer. The staff encouraged us to walk far into the farm to start and the reindeer certainly knew the drill here. There are over 300 reindeer at the camp to interact with! Some swarm the buckets while others politely wait their turn while others aren’t interested at all. There were definitely some more aggressive than others – I had one that kept nudging me and even kept kicking me with their hoove! Some took their displeasure out of other reindeer to get a turn – it was so fun to see their personalities. At one point, Kevin and I evaluated our pales and were stunned to see they were still so full and wondered how much each were really eating, but I guess as grazing animals we should not have been surprised. We got to witness a few couples sparring with their antlers as well. Speaking of antlers, feeding the ones with giant antlers was a bit challenging – you really had to hold the bucket out far away from your face to avoid contact.
Our turn to sled with the reindeer was upon us so we settled in for our short ride around the farm. The entire time I stared at the sky – a big right full moon was going to make seeing Northern Lights difficult. The Aurora app on my phone sent an alert that “if the sky is clear, you might be able to see aurora within the next hour”. Searching through the statistics on the app was not helpful since I had very little knowledge of what I was looking for. While it was cloudy, an opening did appear and we just had to wait – nothing appeared while we were on the sled.
While we waited for dinner – which was around 8PM so I was very grateful for a snack ahead of coming on this trip – I struck up conversation with others staring at the sky hoping for an aurora sighting as well. Some had seen the lights on their trip already and shared that it starts to appear as a gray wisp so it can be hard to identify if you are not trained or experienced. I learned from them that the phone is actually a better eye to see the Northern Lights before human eyes can so many took a few night sight photos to see if anything was up there. They also got alerts from their apps regarding the probability of the lights appearing as we patrolled the sky.
Dinner served is a traditional Sami meal first with a raw salmon salad, followed by reindeer stew (Bidos) with bread (Gahkko), and completed with chocolate cake and berries. The food was actually all very good but portions are not huge so again, I would recommend eating beforehand.
Hot drinks were served while we had some time while everyone finished eating and cleaning up. I went outside with the rest of the group on Aurora patrol and only a few minutes after being out there, someone yelled “I see it!”. I focused so hard in the direction of where the person was pointing and all I could see was a faint gray line in the sky. I took a night vision photo with my phone and upon inspection, it was indeed green – the Northern Lights appeared!
Everyone began taking many photos as it grew, arched, and moved in different directions – it looked small but it did change shapes many times like it was pulsating. But I have to say, it never appeared green to our eyes so it was a bit strange of an experience. While I definitely count it as “seeing” the Northern Lights, is this what it is actually like? Are all the photos so heavily edited so give this false expectation of what it would look like? From my understanding at this point, the Aurora has to be strong for the human eyes to see the colors (Read What to Expect: Chasing the Northern Lights). We had a proper Northern Lights searching trip book later in the trip so I was definitely interested in discussing with the guide (where we did see a stronger surge and did see the colors with our eyes). Regardless, I was thrilled that we were able to “see” and experience an aurora – especially since this was our only predicted clear night of the trip.
Our group returned to the first tent we started in to learn about the reindeer and the Sami culture. Staff with Sami ancestry lead the discussion. One of the ways the Sami lived in this area was as reindeer herders, protecting their herd from predators (lynxes, wolverines, bears, eagles) while they freely roamed the land – the Sami pretty much lived with the reindeer. The reindeer migrate to various parts of the area in order to obtain food. Then at the end of a reindeer’s life, the Sami adopted a whole approach to ensuring all parts of the animal were used. Reindeer meat is particularly versatile, nutritious, and delicious while the fur provides warmth and a large source of income. Every winter, the male reindeer shed their antlers completely so the reindeers with no antlers or small antlers were male whereas the reindeer with large, full antlers were females. It is kind of funny as all the winter displays with reindeer – particularly Rudolph – when in relative, the males have no antlers at the holiday season. Then as spring and summer comes, reindeer will duel for mating rights which is when giant antlers come in handy. While this herd of reindeer remain on the farm in the winter months, the staff told us they are roaming during the spring and summer.
The Sami people first inhabited this part of Norway and learned to live with the land. In addition to reindeer herding, Sami also fished and the staff with Sami ancestry showcased traditional clothing as well as wood working. Today, Sami celebrate a festival on February 6 that lasts a week where Sami showcase their traditions, including reindeer racing which sounds like a fun time. To conclude, the Sami ancestry staff treated the group to a joik performance (traditional Sami folk song) which is similar to yodeling with no words and no instruments and it was a beautiful way to end the night.
At 10PM, we boarded the bus and headed back to Tromso, arriving back in town at 1030PM.
Overall, I think it was a really positive experience. The way they handled the crowd was very good and gave a more small group feel which was definitely wanted. Interacting with the reindeer was really fun and they are definitely happy in this environment and while it is on a farm with a fence, the space is really large – we could not even see the fences. The food was definitely better than expected but I would recommend having a bite before getting on the bus. And make sure to really bundle up as you spend a large portion of the experience outside. Overall, I would recommend adding this experience to your Tromso trip. I would also say that booking in the evening does give a potential Northern Lights viewing opportunity. I hope you get as lucky as we did!
