Overview
Along the Finnish and Russian Border lies an area of land as empty and wild as it gets in Europe. Amongst this taiga forest roams one of Europe’s most impressive and threatened predators, the Brown Bear. We have been running trips to this location for the many years during the summer months but in recent years have also been going earlier in the season to try and capture this beautiful predator in a winter environment.
The bears at this time of the year have just come out of hibernation and they make their way to this special feeding site amongst the old growth of the Taiga forest. The bears are in their thick winter coats and look stunning along with the winter environment.
With the opportunity to photograph Red Squirrel and a number of forest bird species in the snow near our accommodation, this is a great opportunity to experience the boreal forest as it begins to wake from the long winter months.
Itinerary Open +Close -
Day 1: We travel to Oulu airport in Finland where we will be met for the 3-4 hour transfer to our base for the duration of the trip. We’ll arrive too late for any hide-based photography for the bears this evening. An evening meal will be provided and over dinner, we will discuss our activities for the next few days. (We will advise you on our flight recommendations nearer the time).
Day 2: Breakfast is served at 8.00 am and after breakfast, we have the morning to photograph the local wildlife in the grounds of our accommodation. We will be setting up to photograph species like red squirrels, bullfinches, and Great Tits. Dinner is around 2.00pm and then we get ready for the short journey to the bear hides. We have exclusive use of 5, 2-man hides set in a swamp of a forest clearing. We will be transferring to the hides by using snowmobiles with trailers. We will then be spending the night in the hides. At this time of year, we have enough light to photograph until around 8.00pm. We stay in the hides overnight and a bed is provided to sleep on. We can sleep for around 7 or 8 hours and then the light starts to improve around 5.00am. We then leave the hides at 7.30 am and head back to our accommodation to have breakfast.
Days 3 – 5: After breakfast, we have a choice either to relax in our rooms or photograph the local wildlife in the grounds. Each day of the trip follows the same pattern of Day 2 and after dinner we will be transferring back to the hides. By this time, we will be in a routine and can maybe decide to use different lenses or switch hides for a different perspective. After our final night we can decide whether to spend the night in the hide or leave in the late evening.
Day 6: After our final night in the hides we’ll have time to shower and breakfast before returning to Oulu airport for our flights home.
What our customers say
“The holiday exceeded my expectations – amazing experience all round.”
“The accommodation is excellent, warm, clean and comfortable lodge, plenty of hot water. Very friendly hosts.”
“Very successful trip indeed, really nice group of photographers.”
“The guides were very friendly and helpful.”
“The holiday fully met our expectations.”
“Richard Peters was very friendly and took good care of all participants. He is very helpful with explaining technical issues in photography. I fully recommend Richard as a photography tour guide.”
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