Sunday 8 - Sunday 15 July 2007 (8 days)
An exciting trip combining the Wild Brown Bear experience in Finland with a venture to the White Sea in Russia in search of Belugas.
We start by visiting log hides on the Finnish/Russian border where magnificent Brown Bears visit during the long, light summer evenings to feed on the salmon provided for them by local wardens. The bears can be within yards of the hides for several hours, offering superb photographic opportunities, with a chance to see other forest mammals including Wolverine.
Once you are in the hide, you do have to stay in there for the whole evening, and through the early hours of the next morning if the bears stick around. So the hides are equipped with bunk-beds, sleeping bags and toilet facilities - and you can choose what 'night-snacks' you'd like provided, in case the sight of all those bears stuffing themselves makes you peckish. The hides are also equipped with an amplifying microphone and headsets for hearing the birds and wildlife in the surrounding forest.
We then head across the Russian border to the White Sea, where we cross to the island of Solovetski. Beluga whales gather every summer in the White Sea, not far from the Russian Karelian town of Belomorsk, providing ecotourists and scientists with an extraordinary opportunity to observe and even communicate with these pure white whales.
The small village of Solovki on Solovetski Island in the White Sea, three hours from Kem by ferry, is comprised mostly of log-built homes surrounded by potato patches. What makes it unique is the pink granite medieval monastery that sprawls through the centre of the village. Inside the gates rises one of Russia's oldest cathedrals, whose onion domes contain huge bells that are still rung twice a day.
The Moscow-based Shirshov Institute of Oceanology has established a Beluga research station a few miles north of the cathedral, where biologists have erected a log tower at the tip of a skinny, boulder-strewn glacial ridge that all but disappears at high tide. This vantage can sometimes offer a view of the whales when they concentrate to exploit a tidal swell that attracts schools of herring. The Belugas visit the area in small groups led by a 'scout', who signals the rest of them if fish are present.
And finally - will there be mosquitoes? Well, yes, some, but the main summer flush of these pests of the arctic is over, and with a good dose of repellent, you shouldn't be that badly troubled by them.
Once again we'll be in the good hands of our friends from Finnature.
Itinerary
Day 1
We depart London mid-morning to arrive in Helsinki and connect with an afternoon flight to Oulu or Kaajani. Here we meet our Finnature guide and travel to Kuhmo.
Overnight Kuhmo
Day 2
A morning birdwatching around Kuhmo can produce a range of breeding and migrant species, including the chance of Rustic Bunting, Parrot Crossbill and Three-toed Woodpecker.
After lunch we travel to Lentiira close to the Russian border. After checking in at our lodge, a former frontier-station, we meet up with the local bear-guides, who will take us out to the hides. The entire evening, and part of the next morning will be spent in the three hides, before we return to the lodge for a well-earned rest.
Overnight Lentiira
Day 3
After breakfast we head for the frontier crossing into Russia, birdwatching en route. Across the border we have a long drive to the small town of Kem located at the mouth of the White Sea (Belomor) Canal, north of Belomorsk We stay at the Hotel Prichal in Kem.
Overnight Kem
Day 4
After an early breakfast we take a boat trip on the White Sea to the island of Solovetski. The crossing takes about three hours. After checking in at the hotel, we will head straight out for our first Beluga-watching trip. We head out in boats from Cape Beluzi to try and locate the Belugas with the help of a local guide, and hopefully to listen to these 'Canaries of the sea' with the help of hydrophones.
Overnight Solovetski Island
Day 5
We'll be birdwatching on the island during the morning. After lunch we can explore the 15th-century monastery before heading back to Cape Beluzi for a second Beluga-watch.
Overnight Solovetski Island
Day 6
We can spend the morning birdwatching in the area, and after lunch drive to Kem.
Overnight Kem
Day 7
We drive to Kostamus with stops en route for birdwatching, and have a final lunch in Russia before heading for Vartius where we take the frontier crossing back into Finland, returning late in the evening to Kuhmo.
Overnight Kuhmo
Day 8
We should have some time for birdwatching this morning before heading for Kajaani airport to catch the homeward flight.
Accommodation:
In Kuhmo, three/four star hotels with all rooms en suite. At Lentiira we have rooms in a simple lodge. On Solovetski Island we stay in a reasonable quality hotel, but in Kem the hotel is more basic. Some rooms do not have en suite facilities and single rooms are not available in all the accommodation.
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