Finland Travelogue – Ranua Wildlife Park
After flying for about 15 hours from Singapore to Helsinki, Finland, we took a domestic flight to Rovaniemi and that took another hour or so. Needless to say, despite being exhausted from the long flights, I was very excited at what was in store for us!
Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland, which is the hub for all the winter and arctic adventures. It is like a centre and you can use it as a base while venturing out for the various activities. It was rather late when we arrived at the very small airport at Rovaniemi. There was light snowfall, which made it feel like a Winter Wonderland.
We headed for our hotel in Rovaniemi, where we stayed for three nights. The next day, we headed for Ranua Wildlife Park. The daylight is muted and it is perpetually dusk. Daylight is from 9am to 2pm and you do not see the sun at all!
Initially I was very excited because I would get to see all the arctic animals that I had only seen on TV, however when we got there, the most of what we saw were birds (so many I have taken that are not featured here)!
Many of the animals were not visible because they were either hibernating or huddled together for warmth in the heated shelters linked to the enclosures. Rarely did we see animals in the snow! We took our jaunt there like a stroll, enjoying all the snow which we do not get to see back home.
The lynxes, arctic foxes and snowy owls were the coolest animals we saw there. Did you know that the adult male snowy owl is pure white, but females and young birds have some dark scalloping? I guess the owls we saw there were males!
Another really interesting animal we saw was the muskox. An interesting fact is that their gestation period is almost similar to humans! They are pregnant for about 8.5 months.
We hung out at the cafe next to the souvenir shop while waiting for the rest. Got ourselves a nice cup of hot chocolate in a cute winter paper cup and a slice of spiced apple cake. We had lots of fun moments at Ranua Wildlife Park. If you visit Finland in Lapland, you will also get to know the animals in Ranua!
