Lapland Adventures - Safari Introductions

Unique kayaking and canoeing trips

Lake Inari - Arctic Ocean. This safari will take you to the top destinations in the Northern Europe. At first we will paddle the legendary Lake Inari, then visit Arctic Ocean and hike in the mountains. In the safari you will see the famous sceneries of Northern Finland and Norway, eat fish caught freshly from the lake, snorkel in crystal clear waters, hike in the mountains and visit in a Lappish village.

Lake Inari Wilderness adventure. This safari will take you to most remote wilderness of Europe. We will paddle in the Northern Inari archipelago and Vätsäri and hike in the mountains. We spend the whole safari without seeing any roads or even walking trails. It is quite unlikely that we meet other people during the safari. link: virtual kayaking

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River Oulanka afoot and afloat. – Karhunkierros (¨Bear walk”) is the most famous walking trail of Finland. The trail follows river Oulanka in Oulanka National Park. In the safari you can experience the famous river by walking half a way and canoeing another half. This safari is easier than the two others. You don’t need earlier canoeing experience. In walking part you don’t need to carry your gear (over-night equipment). River Oulanka is situated in Southern Lapland in the counties of Salla and Kuusamo.

Daily distances in our safaris are ca 20 kilometres. We'll use sea kayaks in Lake Inari, and canoes in river Oulanka. Our guides are very experienced and they can teach you wilderness skills as well as advanced kayaking and canoeing skills, and introduce the areas' nature and history to you. In the safaris of Lake Inari you also have an opportunity to snorkel (possibility of seeing salmon fish) and eat fish caught on the trip.

If you have a whole group of your own, we can also plan a trip according to your wishes.

For unguided trips - rent a kayak in Northern Lapland

The great Lake Inari is a beautiful and true wilderness lake. The lake is situated 300 km north from the Arctic Circle. It is about 100 km long and its area is more than 1000 km2. The lake comprises over 3000 islands, which means that there are also sheltered kayaking areas. A great majority of the lake is protected and therefore the shore is mainly untouched. Because of its remote location, Inari is rarely visited by kayakers, but it is considered to be the best kayaking area in Finland.

There are thousands of beautiful natural camping sites in the Lake Inari. In untouched islands you will meet the nature of Lapland, old pine forests and alpine birch forest. Northern Inari is characterized by real wilderness atmosphere. It is possible to spend days without seeing any boats or people. In Southern Inari you might see some, but only in the few boat routes of the area. The Southern Inari comprises the most famous sights, like an ice-cave, and old ritual island (Ukonkivi), which usually is pictured in the postcards.

In the northern and eastern side of the lake the wilderness continues in land as Vätsäri wilderness area. There area is very remote. Vätsäri has about 5000 small lakes (i.e. over 1000 lakes per 100 km2), which form an interesting labyrinth. Vätsäri highland is about 10 kilometres wide mountainous area comprising many interesting places, which only few have seen.

The region Arctic Ocean differs in many ways from the Finnish Lapland. The nature is surprisingly rich, landscape is vast, biodiversity great and scenery magnificent. Landscape is still treeless because of the northern location. Ocean is surrounded by high, partly snow top mountains. The same oceanic nature somewhat continues in Teno river valley. In the region more than half of the residents are Lappish and speak Lapp as their mother tongue.

River Oulanka is mainly situated in a national park, which is the most famous hiking and trekking area of Finland. The river runs in a deep valley and is partly surrounded by rocky steeps in both sides. The chosen canoeing routes consists of flat water only. The river has many rapids and falls, but we will admire them only from safe distance.