Friday morning before the Bank Holiday weekend saw us meeting up in Heathrow Terminal 1 to catch the Finnair flight to Helsinki. A couple of hours at Helsinki airport allowed us to have a light dinner before the flight up to Kajaani. We were picked up and asked if we wanted a good night's sleep or straight to one of the hides. We looked at each other, grinned and all agreed we were there to see bears so straight to the hide please. Just after midnight in pitch dark we made ourselves comfortable in the hide and settled down for a few hours sleep.
Next morning we sat looking into the mist at about 4.30am and suddenly saw a bear appearing from the trees straight across from us. 
High ISOs and we were snapping away .... then someone spotted something else ... although we continued snapping at the bear. Then we recognised the other animal. It was a wolf! Then another bear appeared from the left and we had to make some choices. The light was getting better and the sun was clearing the mist away and we had a fantastic first morning in the wilds of Finland. 
After about 8am the bears disappeared to go back to sleep and we were getting hungry. We were picked up and taken back to base camp where we had a great Finnish breakfast before heading for bed at about 10am! Up for a 4pm dinner (meatballs, cheese and and some great juices) and then taken to another hide. This evening proved to be madly busy. Bears were appearing left and right and more wolves! We were snapping away and all of us managed to get some great images. As the sun was setting the bears were walking right up to our hide and one looked right in. Scary! As we tried to sleep in our sleeping bags we would hear the bears splashing in the water but it was too dark to get any shots by then. 
Next morning Adam was up first at 4.30am and whispered "everyone up ... bears". It was still quite dark but right in front of the hide a bear was 'posing' then suddenly something spooked him and he raced across a shallow lake spray flying all over the place. More bears appeared and we managed to get some more shots as the light improved. Most of the time the bears were tolerant of each other and indeed of the wolves. Sometimes they would get aggressive and there would be some growling and teeth baring!
By 8.30am the bears had disappeared and we walked up to the road to be picked up for another fine breakfast. We were not so tired this time so we spent a little time photographing the mushrooms and berries which littered the forest floor around the cottage.
For our last evening we returned to the hide we were in on the first morning. More bear action all evening and we managed to get more shots than we expected. Lots of great bears until the light faded at about 9pm. Back to base for the luxury of sleeping in a bed! The base camp is an old logging cottage which is right by a beautiful lake. There was a sauna following which a few of the Finns jumped into the lake. We all wimped out and had hot showers!
A 4.15am wake-up call on our last day to get us back to Kajaani airport for our early morning flight. On the way home we managed to spend a few hours in Helsinki, tried the excellent tram system, fed some seagulls in the harbour until we were told off and then a spot of lunch before the flight home.
A plug for Finnair which was really excellent. No trouble with our rather extensive (and expensive) handluggage!
Great trip, short but lots of action. We will be returning in June 2009.
Julie and Adam
Finland: bears, wolves, mushrooms and berries! - 31 August 2008
