Bears of Finland – 2024

Brown Bear

The brown bear was the main objective to see and photograph, and it didn’t disappoint. Every night there were several sightings of them. Maybe there was seven in total, but several were seen at two or all three places.

These are my favourite pictures of this magnificient animal.

Wolverine

An additional and very exciting mammal to see was the elusive Wolverine. There were two in the area, and the two first nights I saw it, mostly in the few reallly dark hours. It is a very active animal, almost always moving, that is more shy than the bears but sometimes coming close.

Other Wildlife

There were many sightings of other animals while we waited.

Environment

These photos were taken around the lake, when we waited and hope to see a bear come to the tranquil water mirror.

The Place

I went with a group of people, organised by Brutus Östling, Fokus Fotoresor, and we stayed at Boreal Wildlife Centre. They had three locations, the forest, the bog and the lake. Each had beautiful views and great opportunities to see bears and other wildlife. I spent the first three nights at each place, and the fourth night a second time at the bog.

We spent all night in these hides, from 16.00 to 07.00, starting with that a keeper placed fish guts and dog food. The sun was all up night apart from three hours around midnight, so it was pretty exhausting, but ther places were nice. My greatest fear was that the enormous amount of mosquitos would trouble us, but they didn’t cause too much trouble.

The days I spent sleeping in the house, eating some breakfast and late lunch, and talking a walk just to get some exercise. I also found some adders and a squirrel to take some photos of.