The Sámi NorthApr – May

Spring Migration

West, to the calving grounds

In April and May the herds leave the winter forest and move west towards the calving grounds in the mountains. It is the oldest scheduled event in this landscape and it is not scheduled — it goes when the snow, the pregnant females and the weather agree, which is a different week every year.

The pregnant cows lead. That is the whole logic of the timing: they have to be on the calving ground before they calve, and the ground has to be clear enough to calve on.

Some of it is still done on skis and on foot. Most of it now involves snowmobiles, and in places helicopters, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a postcard. The animals have not changed; the equipment has.

Why we will not promise a date

This is the hardest thing on this list to promise, and we would rather be blunt now than apologetic later. A migration cannot be booked for a Tuesday. Families will sometimes take a guest along for a day of it and sometimes will not, because the week they are moving several thousand animals is not a week with spare attention in it.

What we can do is put you in the right place in the right fortnight, with a family who has said yes in principle, and be honest that the day may become something else.

If you want a guaranteed reindeer experience, ask us for a different one. This is not it, and that is precisely what makes it worth asking for.

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