The start of our journey south from Honningsvag started out as the exact reverse of the previous day’s journey north from Tromso. First we caught the ferry in the opposite direction and, as it was another beautiful day, we sat up on deck – where Mum amazed me by remembering enough German from schooldays to hold a conversation with a German couple who’d been staying overnight in the same hotel as we had.
Then, once we were off the ferry and back on the coach, we started going south towards Alta on the road we’d travelled north on the day before.
But this time we didn’t go as far as Alta. Instead we turned onto the E6 and started heading east towards Karasjok which was to be our first stop of the day. Now I didn’t know at the time, but Mum says there are fewer people living in Karasjok than there are in our village on the edge of the Yorkshire dales. Unlike our village, however, Karasjok is the main town and administrative centre for an area of around 2105 square miles/5453 square kilometres.
Most of the people who live there are Sami, descendants of a group of people who are first mentioned in writing around 2000 years ago, but archaeology shows that they were there for thousands of years before that.
For centuries the Sami lived a nomadic life, existing mainly by fishing and reindeer herding. But as the 19th century started, the Norwegian government tried to ban many aspects of their traditional life. Among other things, their language was frowned upon. They were made to speak Norwegian and they were encouraged to lead a settled life.
All this changed in the 20th century, however, and in 1989 the Sami got their own parliament, the Samediggi, in Karasjok. The Sami and Norwegian languages were give equal status and now over 80% of the population of Karasjok speak Sami.
But one tradition that wasn’t banned was reindeer herding and, though now it involves a much smaller percentage of the population than it used to, the area is still home to around 60,000 reindeer. As well as providing meat, these animals provide skins for clothing and tents – and they also provide transport in winter when they can pull sleighs across the snow-covered land.
These reindeer don’t all live around Karasjok all year, however. Though they graze there during the autumn and winter, in the spring their owners take them to new pastures nearer the coast where they’ll feed on fresh grass and lichens. They’ll also give birth to their calves there over the summer.
Around 4000 reindeer are taken to the plateau-land between Honningsvag and the North Cape, which is about 155 miles/250 kms from Karasjok. Most of them have lost strength through the harsh conditions of winter and so they are helped on their way by the Norwegian Army which ferries them across the narrow fjord separating their home from the island of Mageroya.
When they return inland in the autumn, however, they have gained in strength and are able to swim across, led by the most powerful male in the herd and guided by their owners in small boats. Even so, it can take up to a week to get them all back onto the mainland, especially if any of the calves, who are swimming for the first time, start to panic and decide they want to go back to Mageroya.
These days watching the reindeer migration, especially in the spring, is a big tourist attraction in Karasjok, but we were there at the wrong time and so sadly we missed it. In fact, we didn’t see much of Karasjok at all, apart from the Old Church which was built in 1807 and was the only building in the town to remain undamaged at the end of World War II.
And the reason for our short stay was that with 150 miles/240 kms behind us already that day, we still had another 120 miles/186 kms to go before we reached our destination for that night. And, after a very late night followed by a very early morning, we were all looking forward to a rest…
That’s all for today, so please take care, stay safe – and look out for some more tales from me soon!
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27/10/2022
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 