Wildlife Roadtrip in Eastern Finland

I had a very different set of travel plans for this year, but for reasons beyond my control, they were practically canceled overnight, and I was given just a big pile of things to sort out instead. Well, I do not have any influence on how things are playing out at the moment, so the gaze in terms of travel had to be directed to homeland. After a quick research, I found that photography of large mammals in Finland is mainly an activity in Eastern Finland, so I headed towards Kuhmo and Lieksa, after which I visited the national landscapes of Koli National Park and the country's rarest and only native mammal, the Saimaa ringed seal in Linnansaari National Park in Oravi.

(Individual videos of the locations in this post are available in my Vimeo account. And some more photos in my Smugmug album.)

I started my trip on Thursday morning and headed towards Kuhmo. The trip was exceptionally smooth, as there was little crowd on the road. Apart from the very last ten kilometers, the roads were in summer condition. The road to Kuikka'scabin, on the other hand, was a gravel road with a couple of challenging points of ice and mud. However, they were resolved without outside help. I met my host Sami as agreed shortly before 2pm. Sami set out to guide me to my destination about 10 kilometers away, which is practically located on the edge of a swamp in the Russian border zone. In addition to the camera openings, the photo hides are typically equipped with dry toilets and some kind of sleeping area and a heater. In Kuhmo a camping cooker was also available, so I had the opportunity to cook some simple hot food as well.

To get animals to arrive to the swamp, they are provided with feeding which is practically the only way to be able to photograph animals in Finland because they are very cautious – after all, they are used to being hunted over the decades.

Common chaffinch entertaining the photographer during midday

And yet, one should not think that the animals are outright rushing to be photographed at the feeding site when people have disappeared from the view. It is still a game of patience, as animals often appear at dusk and in the evening, so light is hardly optimal, if available at all, for photography. It is then a personal decision whether to try to sleep during the dark time or to watch the animals roar and feed through the night. So, there is no certainty about the pictures, it all depends on luck, patience and maybe a little bit of the equipment as well.

I myself had no previous experience with photo hides, my attempts to photograph wildlife have taken place mainly from safari 4x4s in Africa which is a completely different type of activity compared to this (= I think a much more entertaining and easier experience).

The swamp was a playground for large ravens during the day, and the first larger animals did not appear until just before twilight, when two wolves appeared from the edge of the forest. Soon more wolves appeared and there were a total of six individuals researching the dinner table.

A wolf surrounded by the ravens

The light was already too dim to shoot when the king of the forest finally arrived from the shadows at the edge of the swamp. The two wolves disturbed the bear on the way to the feeding but after a few minutes of play fighting, the bear was let go and the wolves retreated to the background. It was around this time that I closed my eyes for the day. At night I woke up a few times to the howls of the wolves and the growls of the bear. 

I woke up early in the morning to the cold, as the temperature had dropped to about ten below and my sleeping bag was not quite adequate for those conditions.

The next day, a White-Tailed Eagle appeared to the swamp and made one spectacular attack for a piece of fish from the ravens, which I also caught on my camera. Just after dusk, a lone fox came to search of something to eat and was able to dig fish fodder hidden in the swamp to its hunger.

The sun rose early in the morning from behind a quiet swamp and, with the exception of ravens, there was little movement. I still hoped for a bear, even though I knew the chances in bright day light were slim. No bear, but some wolves! After a little after seven, two wolves appeared again for a light morning brunch.

After that I packed my stuff back in to the car and headed for the next stop in Kontiovaara, Lieksa.

Bear did not come out and play during the day.

In Lieksa I met the famous Erä-Eero at his cabin in Keljänpuro. He showed me to the photo hides just a few hundred meters in to the woods. I spend one night in Keljänpuro and one night a bit futher away in Uuronlampi where the surroundigs are a bit more open compared to wooded area of Keljänpuro.

Anyway, I did not have the best of luck in Lieksa. Quite frustrating, actually. I spend a total of about 26 hours watching, of which the target animal was visible for 5 minutes and able to be photographed for about 90 seconds. Personally, of course, I messed with the camera settings so that I actually only got one intact series during the last 30 seconds of available window. In sports, there is often talk about the key moments and this was clearly one like that. Unfortunately, my own performance was not quite up to the challenge. Something to be improved for the next time.

Wolverine catching some snack 

This, of course, also shows the difficulty of photo hide photography. I had better luck in Kuhmo, not in Lieksa. That's how it went this time. Towards the next challenge and be sure to remember to set the camera settings ready for the morning already in the previous evening!

Next up was Koli National Park – famous for its “national landscape”. First I did go and checked out a couple of smaller points of interest. First, so called Pirunkirkko, which is a rock cave on the steep cliffs of Koli. I hadn’t quite figured out what kind of cave it was and my mistake became apparent when I realized that the meltwater had formed a uniform water cover on the bottom of the cave, which was currently solid ice. Thus, my cave adventure became a bit more challenging and only a few photos later I headed out for some more secure ground.

Pirunkirkko, Koli

Next, I made a brief hike to Tarhapuro Waterfall, which was located about 7 km from Pirunkirkko back towards the village. The waterfall was still in a surprisingly snowy condition and I think its most picturesque time will be in the first half of May. In places the route was a bit slippery, but by no means bad.

Tarhapuro waterfall

Finally, in the afternoon, it was time to move to my accommodation at the Vanhan koulun majatalo (Old School Inn), which was the only open accommodation in all of Koli. At the inn everything necessary was in place and the hostel's attitude towards the guests was very uncomplicated and pragmatic - just the right place for me. Plus, again, the same wonderful silence that is missing from so many accommodations under normal circumstances.

The next day I went around the so-called Peaks Tour, which thus comprises Koli's three main peaks Ukko-Koli, Akka-Koli and Paha-Koli. The day was gray and windy, plus it was a little frosty, which meant it was cold at the top of the peaks, especially on the wind side. On the other hand, the snow cover was solid so there was no need to wade in the snow.

During the morning, I saw one family at the route. In that sense, again, a great time to come and enjoy the scenery of Koli in complete peace.

View from the top of Paha-Koli

From Koli, I headed to the last destination of my trip - Oravi canal village north of Savonlinna. The Saimaa ringed seal cruises began on Labor Day and I had signed up to see that very rare and Finland's only native mammal live for the first time. I left Koli so early that I also made a small detour on the way to Nahkiaissalmi in Kolovesi National Park, where I wandered a few kilometers of nature trail and also saw a flying squirrel for the first time in the wild.

Siberian flying squirrel in Kolovesi national park

The boat drive to the archipelago of Linnansaari National Park was cool, but still quite enjoyable - I had enough layers, which I highly recommend when going out on the water in spring time in general.

An estimated 60 of the approximately total of 400 Saimaa ringed seals swim in the waters of the national park, so there were good opportunities to see the ringed seal in Linnansaari waters. Now there was also a favorable wind and some ice left in a few coves, so it was also a little easier to spot the ringed seal than later in spring and summer, when all the ringed seal observations have to be made on the rocks, requiring a slightly more trained eye.

All in all we saw 8 seals and 3 of those were in my camera’s reach. So, the safari was successful, and we returned to Oravi in ​​good spirits.

The Saimaa Ringed Seal enjoying the Labour Day in Linnansaari National Park

I cut a few layers of clothes and headed my Kia back towards Central Finland. In Vaajakoski, I washed the car after all the broken roads and after that the trip started to be in the bag.

The trip was mostly successful - the highlights are probably the animals of Kuhmo and the Saimaa ringed seals in Oravi. As for the wolverine and the bear, those will have to wait for a second trip to be captured.