The next day we hired a car so we could drive around the coast of the fiord. We had a 200km limit on our car hire for the day so we drove 50km along the coast to the west of Alta first and then planned to go 50km to the NE of Alta in the afternoon. There were no other roads so a round trip was out of the question. 50km west took us to a little peninsula with a few houses called Isnestoften. It was, like all the settlements along the coast, a fishing community. We stopped and sat by the water for a while. This was the most peaceful place I have ever been. the only sounds were natural and mainly just wading birds and gentle lapping of the water. Very gentle lapping actually as there was barely a ripple to be seen. We could have been the only humans on the planet.
On the way here we were surprised by a handful of reindeer who had decided the grass was greener on the other side of the road and just ran out in front of us. I just had to stop and get a photo although I half expected them to disappear into the vegetation at the sight of me getting out of the car. I noticed that down a bank on the other side of the road there was a heard of 20 or so but they were too difficult to get to. This guy was clearly not impressed by me as I was blocking his route that would allow him to rejoin the rest of the herd. He showed his displeasure by stamping his feet. I was amazed at just how close I could get to them. In the UK you only ever get this close to deer if they are tame as in the wild they are extremely shy creatures.
This one was the biggest of the group. I'm sure once those antlers finish growing he will be a very impressive animal.
The next day we hired a car so we could drive around the coast of the fiord. We had a 200km limit on our car hire for the day so we drove 50km along the coast to the west of Alta first and then planned to go 50km to the NE of Alta in the afternoon. There were no other roads so a round trip was out of the question. 50km west took us to a little peninsula with a few houses called Isnestoften. It was, like all the settlements along the coast, a fishing community. We stopped and sat by the water for a while. This was the most peaceful place I have ever been. the only sounds were natural and mainly just wading birds and gentle lapping of the water. Very gentle lapping actually as there was barely a ripple to be seen. We could have been the only humans on the planet.
On the way here we were surprised by a handful of reindeer who had decided the grass was greener on the other side of the road and just ran out in front of us. I just had to stop and get a photo although I half expected them to disappear into the vegetation at the sight of me getting out of the car. I noticed that down a bank on the other side of the road there was a heard of 20 or so but they were too difficult to get to. This guy was clearly not impressed by me as I was blocking his route that would allow him to rejoin the rest of the herd. He showed his displeasure by stamping his feet. I was amazed at just how close I could get to them. In the UK you only ever get this close to deer if they are tame as in the wild they are extremely shy creatures. 
This one was the biggest of the group. I'm sure once those antlers finish growing he will be a very impressive animal.
1 comment:
Lovely! It must be so nice to see nature up close and personal. I almost forgot what it looks like.
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