Viiksimo

NaturesLens visits Viiksimo on small-group wildlife photography holidays in Finland, with time here planned around Brown Bear, Common Raven, White-tailed Eagle and Wolverine rather than general sightseeing. Current itineraries using Viiksimo include Brown Bears of Finland, with photography shaped around hide, boat-based, flight and landscape and behaviour photography sessions. Viiksimo is a small, remote village in the Kainuu region of eastern Finland, close to the Russian border & set within the vast taiga forest that characterises this sparsely populated part of the country. The landscape is one of unbroken coniferous woodland, punctuated by peat bogs, quiet lakes & slow-moving rivers, forming part of the extensive wilderness corridor that stretches along Finland’s eastern frontier. This remoteness & continuity of forest habitat make Viiksimo an important refuge for some of Europe’s most elusive large predators, & its hides & forest tracks are well suited to patient, low-impact wildlife observation. The taiga around Viiksimo is renowned for its brown bears, which forage through the forests & clearings & can often be observed from well-placed hides during the warmer months. Wolverine, one of the continent’s most secretive & rarely seen carnivores, also range through this wilderness, drawn by the same undisturbed forest cover & abundant natural food sources. Overhead, white-tailed eagles are a regular & impressive sight, their broad wingspans a familiar silhouette above the lakes & treeline as they hunt or scavenge. Common ravens, ever-present & highly intelligent, patrol the forest edges & clearings, often the first to alert observers to the presence of larger animals nearby.