Husky Safari @ Nellim

In my trip to Finland, we participated in the husky safari programme arranged by the Wilderness Hotel Nellim which lasted slightly more than 2 hours, starting at 10.30am or 1pm. Well, first of all, I guess I was mislead by all the shows that I've seen with Huskies. I thought that we will all be sitting on a small sled pulled by the cute dogs. Well, I was half right.

The fact is that one person will be sitting in the sled and the other will be steering the sled so that the sled doesn't overturn when the dogs turn. In summary, one person will be standing all the way and obviously, that person is me.

The husky safari is actually more "relaxing" than the other activities because the dogs will "drive" by themselves. The huskies will just follow the lead in front. You just need to shift to the left if the dogs turn left and vice versa. However, it is not that straightforward especially when you encounter mini bumps along the way so your sense of balance must be quite good. There is a "brake" in the middle of the sled but if you're not heavy enough, the dogs will just continue moving forward. Happened to me. :p

Below is a picture of a sled that I grabbed off the internet but the sled looks quite similar to the one I was in, except that the hotel guides have put some rugs and blankets at the front of the sled so someone can sit in front. The driver will be grabbing the handle bars and standing on the 2 leg rests you see protruding at the back of the seld. The "brake" is in the middle and if you want to brake fully, just stand on the brake with both feet.

We stopped at a place for a campfire berry juice cum shortcake biscuit break and that was where we started playing with the huskies. They are a friendly bunch of dogs and they love to lick you if they have the chance to. :)

Below are some pictures of the cute huskies.

Below is a picture of my huskies that were pulling my sled, resting when they can. You can also see the sled at the background. As you can see, they are quite tired, but they came up immediately when we approach them. Interesting dogs. :)

After the trip back, we even got the chance to remove the harness from the dogs. The dogs are really very well trained and friendly as they were obviously in some form of discomfort when we take the harness out because some harness is rather tight.

Oh yes, did I forget that the huskies do umm, smell? :)

Anyway, stay tuned for my other posts on the activities I did in Finland.