Lions, Tigers, and Bears oh my (at least the last one)…

When I finished my last blog entry we were in the Jakobstad region. This proved to be as far north as we went this trip. On May 30th we started heading eastward and had a lunch stop at Salamajärvi National Park. This park is known for having reindeer, but we were unable to find any that day.

Later that night brought us to a cottage near Kannonkoski in Keski-Suomi (Central Finland). We enjoyed the solitude and an evening sauna. We even tried fishing with no luck.

We closed out the month of May, by heading east to the Karelia region. We stopped at Koli for lunch where we were able to enjoy the scenery and a lovely spring day in Finland.

We spent the last evening of May in an observation hide near Lieksa hoping to see wolverines (second time for me). or other wildlife.  The afternoon and evening had light rain and overcast conditions which made photography conditions less than ideal. Two different wolverines eventually came near the hide with the first solo visit occurring around 2000 (8:00 pm).

A short while later we noticed that the ducks and other birds in the area abruptly left. We anticipated a revisit from a wolverine but instead a brown bear sow with her three cubs made an appearance. We were able to observe them for a few minutes as well. The cubs were intent on exploring the area on their own. The Finnish brown bear (Ursus arctos) and the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) found in the US and Canada are related species. The brown bear is Finland’s national animal.

All in all it was a very pleasant way to close out May.