Kuusamo, Finland

Location added by Giampaolo Masserano

The information about this location have been automatically translated with Microsoft Translator.

Rank : 9.0 (average on 1 votes)

Coordinates : 65.966544, 29.225680 (Open in Google Maps)

Subjects : Brown bear, reindeer, wolverine, moose, red fox, sea eagle, geese, cranes, bullfinch and other taiga birds. In my visit at the end of September I saw only bears, eagle rays, cranes and reindeer but according to the Guides who accompany the photographers with a lot of luck you can also spot other animals.

Recommended equipment : As indicated below, sightings of the shed bear can be very close (up to a few meters). So the flexibility of medium-long zooms such as the 200-600, 100-500 or even the 60-600 is preferable, which allow you to take home very interesting shots even at a very short distance. Reindeer are found practically everywhere, often on the side of the road, so a 70-200 is enough. A wide angle is also essential for landscapes, especially in September when the Nordic autumn explodes (Ruska).

Best months : All year round, considering that in summer the sun practically never sets below the horizon (we are just south of the Arctic Circle) and in autumn the light can be very good even if the days get much shorter. The huts can instead be booked from April-May until the end of September, when the bears hibernate. In summer, the latitude allows 24 hours of observations, while in September the hours are from 15-16 to 19.

How to get there : To reach Kuusamo I took the plane from Bergamo and flew to Rovaniemi, renting a car and traveling the 190 kilometers between the two cities in about 2.30 hours on the smooth Route 81.

Visits : There are two agencies that offer observations in well-equipped stakeouts (and, uncommonly, equipped with toilets).- Taiga-Bear (managed by Eerik) has two very large huts that can accommodate a dozen photographers (price in September from 16 to 19 euros 125 paid cash on my arrival after telephone agreement).- Karhu-Kuusamo (managed by Pekka) has four huts of varying sizes, located in an amazing location: a large wetland surrounded by forest (in September from 3 to 7 pm; 120 euros paid online). In summer, you can stay overnight in the largest hut, which has 10 bunk beds and a spartan kitchen. In both stakeouts, the bears are fed with corn and other products, so the animals get very close to the windows, which are prepared with camouflage cloth (no glass). No tripod needed: each station is equipped with bean bags or a screw for the tripod head.

Notes : The huts of the two agencies are located a few kilometers away from each other, in an easterly direction and very close to the border with Russia... They can be reached by car along a beautiful dirt road for about 40 kilometers from Kuusamo, through a very suggestive landscape. To change backgrounds and setting it is therefore advisable to book two visits on different days, contacting the websites WEB in advance because the visitors are normally very numerous. Eerik and Pekka provide all the information to get to the car parks without problems and with a normal navigator. Having free mornings in September, I visited the Oulanka National Park, which is located a few kilometers away and is famous among other things for the spectacular rapids of the river that crosses it. If you have more time, you can visit the Ranua Zoo.

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Sunrise: 04:41, Sunset: 21:20

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