Tuesday 1 July 2008

29/06/08 - Bear tucker (Marea's version).



After yesterday's non-accomplishments, we thought it necessary to put
some miles on the clock. We now have a destination (Gällivare to see
the midnight sun from the top of Mount Dundret) and plan to get to
Finland before this weekend.

So today we have driven little south of Storuman. We stopped along the
way at the Lycksele Djurpark which is a zoo with only Nordic animals.
The animals were all in enclosures which mimic their natural habitats
as closely as possible, but it did make finding them a little
difficult. It was fantastic fun and we managed to spot everything
except beavers and sheep (not really bothered about the latter for
some reason). We saw seals, an otter, bears, wolves, reindeer, moose,
bambis, bison, musk ox, foxes, lynx, a wolverine, cows and goats. Alot
of the animals had babies too which were soooo cute. Daniel and I do
need a bit of help though, because I thought moose and elk were two
different species but the swedish translation of elk is moose!

We arrived just after feeding I suspect, because most of the animals
were snoozing. But later when other people had all gone home they
became more active. The zoo shut at 1700 and we were the last to leave
the park at 18:45 because we kept getting distracted, especially by a
bear and her cubs. I can now truthfully say I've now had my fingers
licked by an adult bear! Quite a petrifying thought even now.

To sleep this evening, we have found a darling spot down a side road,
beside a lake/dam with a little beach but evil looking mosquitoes. So
we lit a fire (to smoke out the little buggers), cracked open our low
alcohol beer and cooked pork chops over the coals.

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