No muskox safari in May - but we have an alternative!

We are receiving many requests about muskox safari in May. And although May is a beautiful time, we don’t offer muskox safari during that month. The reason is that in May, the calves of both muskox and reindeer are born. This is of course a vulnerable time for them, and therefore there are restrictions for guiding in the national park.

Instead, we offer an alternative! A guided hike on “Vårstigen”, or “Spring path”. This path goes just outside the national park, and has been used for hundreds of years. Back then, this path was feared by travellers. Later, it got very popular among botanists, because of the special flora in this area - there are even numerous endemic alpine plants! Nowadays, “Vårstigen” is a populair trail for hikers and pilgrims.

And last but not least: you might be able to spot newborn (read: supercute) muskox! And if you do, it will guaranteed be a memory for life. Sure, it will be from a long distance, but how close to a newborn animal and its mother (who has a very strong mother instinct, sharp horns, and can run 60 km/h) do you really want to come?

We in Dovre & Lesja Aktiv have of course had many, many encounters with muskox. But believe it or not, seeing the new born muskox playing in the forest is definitely in the top 5!

Playful newborn muskox in May!

Hiking “Vårstigen” in Dovrefjell in spring!

Bird watching safari

We also offer bird watching safari. This safari is by car, so suitable for everyone! And if you’re lucky, you might even spot some moose too.

Tips

If you decide to go for a hike in Dovrefjell yourself, please do so with caution. Here are some tips!

• Keep distance! For muskox, the safety distance is 200 m. They might seem unafraid or even tame, but this is not the case. Unlike most other widlife, muskox defend themselves rather than running away, and can attack if provoked. Muskox can weigh over 400 kg and run 60 (!) km per hour - and it goes without saying you can’t.

• For reindeer, the situation is opposite. They are afraid of people, and get easily stressed when they notice us - which can be from long distances. You should not approach them, and the recommended distance to keep is min 1 km. That being said, spotting reindeer is an incredible experience, so if you do see them (from a distance), enjoy!

• To avoid suprises, you should make yourself known to the muskox - don’t sneak up on them. If you meet a herd of muskox, pay attention to the entire herd, as they can be quite spread out.

• If you’ve never seen a muskox before, it might be difficult to understand their behavior. When they paw the ground, throw their head back, snort or starts fighting with other muskox, it is their way of telling you they are not okay with the situation. In that case, calmy return the same way you came in.

You can read more about the muskox, reindeer and national park on the website of the national park.

Updated reservation policy

These last two years, we’ve been happy to see an increase in the number of people who choose to join our activities. And although we believe flexibility is very important and aspire to facilitate the wishes of our guests and partners, this increase in demand has made it necessary for us to update our reservation policy.

Some of the new points include:

• For all bookings, it applies that, with regard to safety, at least 1 person in the traveling party must know sufficient Norwegian or English.

• We expect our guests and partners to adhere to the regulations applicable at all times within the protected areas; including the use of drones, cycling and organized activities. A complete overview of these regulations can be found on the website of the national parks.

• Cancellation of public activities up to 48 hours before the activity's start time results in a full refund, plus a cancellation fee of NOK 50 per person.

• In the period 1 June - 15 October, as well as during Norway's Christmas, winter and Easter holidays, payment for safaris with a private guide must be received no later than 2 weeks (14 days) before the actual activity date. If we have not received payment within this deadline, you risk having your booking cancelled.

  Cancellation up to 2 weeks (14 days) before the start time of the activity results in a full refund, plus a cancellation fee of NOK 250.

  Cancellation between 7-13 days before the activity's start time results in a 50% refund.

  Cancellation less than 7 days before will be charged in full.

Our reservation policy can be found here: https://www.dovrelesja.no/contact-us

-The Team of Dovre & Lesja Aktiv

Great start of the season!

The first month of the summer season is done, and we started off great! Usually, the beginning of June is quite relaxed, but as soon as we started offering the musk ox safari on June 1th, people were ready to join. Even the weather has been mostly amazing, apart from some evenings with thunder and rain (although the rain was, after a long dry period, very welcome).

Last week we finally got the whole team together! And we started off with a first aid course, arranged by Rondaneguiden. Most of us had done a course before, but freshening up that knowledge is super important - especially since we, luckily enough, haven’t “used” this knowledge so far. We were joined by the guides from Hjerkinn Fjellstue & Fjellridning, a place we recommend visiting if you’re in the area, especially if you love horses! And of course we had a delicious meal together, at Frich’s Kafeteria Dombås.

From left to right: Rune, Jo Even, Jonas, Ane Malene, Ove Marius and Kim.

We’re looking forward to the rest of the season!

May = Spring time. Or is it?

The 21th of March is the spring equinox, and day and night (almost) have the same length. It’s the first day of astronomical spring; however, it hasn’t felt like that yet.

Sure, we had some days with nice weather. During Easter, for example. Which is especially important in Norway! During Easter, all Norwegians want to go skiing, eating Kvikk-lunsj (the Norwegian Kit-Kat) and sleeping in mountain cabins. Preferably with a lot of sun, a phenomenon the Norwegians call “påskevær”, or “Easter weather”.

When moving to the Norwegians mountains, I was told that another sign of spring is the spring pasque flower (Pulsatilla vernalis). When you find this, you know spring is on its way. This year showed that that is not always the case!

 1) The spring pasque flower. 2) Easter weather while skiing! 3) Curlew. 4) Male roe deer.

Both the easter weather and finding the pasque flower seemed promising, but we were only tricked to believing that spring had arrived. Because we still got snow, and some more snow. As late as last Saturday, May 27th, we woke up to a thin layer of fresh snow. Thankfully, it disappeared quickly again!

Despite the weather, it is a beautiful time of year. Nature is becoming “alive” again, with all the migratory birds arriving. And of course all the babies being born! During our last moose safari, we spotted two teeny-tiny roe deer calves, barely able to walk. Probably one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. <3

According to the weather forecast, we’ll have something to look forward to next week, with temperatures up to 20 °C. That would make a great start of the season! In all seriousness, not matter the weather, we are super excited to start the season again in just a couple of days, on June 1. And thankfully, most os the snow is gone, so we don’t need snowshoes for our hikes. Muskox, here we come!

The most extreme safari this winter!

The end of February turned out to be a busy week for us, with 8 musk ox safaris in 10 days. And this week really showed that no day is the same!

We started with an easy safari. The musk ox were only 3,5 km away, in a relatively flat area that was easy to hike through, with just a little bit of uphill. This was a public safari, which means that the people who joined all had different backgrounds and levels of experience. We didn’t have to rush and took several short breaks, and everyone made it to the musk ox. We found a herd of at least 4 animals, but they were spread out, lying down on a little hill, making it difficult to get a good view. When musk ox first lay down, they can stay like that for quite a while, so often you need some patience to see some “action”.

The next day I was out again, with a different group this time. We went to the same spot, thinking this was going to be an easy day. Unfortunately, the animals had moved, and despite multiple groups of people searching, we didn’t find them that day. That just shows you’re never allowed to think it’s going to be easy, you’ll just jinx it!

It doesn’t happen often that the animals move that far without being able to find them. Of course, you never really know happened, but it was a busy week in the mountains, with lots of people - many without guide - going to see the muskox. Perhaps there was too much pressure on them? Unfortunately, we see this a lot; not everyone knows how to behave around the animals, trying to get too close and surrounding them, without understanding the animal’s behavior, ultimately pushing the animals out of the area - and ruining the experience for the rest of us. To ease the pain of not finding muskox, we went and searched for moose. Here we great succes, as we found multiple ones!

This picture was taken on a different day. I never bring my camera on moose safaris, as I feel it brings bad luck - very superstitious I know! It’s always when I don’t bring my camera, that I wish I had brought it. ;)

The next day the weather turned for the worst up in the mountains, and I had to make the tough decision to turn back. With blowing snow and gusts of wind reaching over 20 m/s, we couldn’t see anything, it was a complete white-out, making it very difficult to orientate - and impossible to find musk ox. In these conditions injuries frost bite is also a possibility, and safety always comes first! (Again, we did a moose safari as back-up plan).

The weather forecast for the day after was the same, but we decided to try anyway. And I’m glad we did! Visibility was a lot better this day, and after a long and exhausting hike we finally found the musk ox. Conditions were very though, sometimes we could hardly stand upright. Photographers had to be careful and protect their cameras everytime a wind gust came in. BUT the guests managed to take some awesome pictures, so it was worth it in the end! This was definitely the most extreme safari this winter!

One of the pictures taking this extreme day, by one of our guests Michel Prins. I still hope to take a picture like this one day, but of course I didn’t bring my camera! ;)

Recap of the last months

Turns out writing a blog takes more time than you think… It has been a busy year, and unfortunately, I didn’t keep my promise. But hey, new year, new chances right? So I will try to post more here this year. See it as my New Year’s resolution – even though it’s already March.

Let me start with the end of 2022. After a well-deserved holiday break in the Netherlands, I came back to Norway right after Christmas – and immediately had to work, burning off all those Christmas dinners. We were perhaps not so lucky with the weather, as it was around -15 degrees and some days with a cold wind as well. We were, however, lucky with the musk ox. There were two nice males hanging out together not that far into the mountains, and we found them on all four trips.

Just over a week later, I travelled back to the Netherlands, for work this time. For the first time, Dovre & Lesja Aktiv by Frich’s was represented at the Vakantiebeurs! The Vakantiebeurs is the largest tourism- and leisure fair in the Netherlands, and is held in Utrecht. Quite the adjustment going from 1 person/km2 to 3922/km2!

Of course, I wasn’t there alone, with me I had Musky the Mascot. He was my companion on the stand, and he was very popular; multiple visitors asked if they could buy him. Which I of course respectfully declined. ;)

This year’s edition had over 60 000 visitors. It was a lot of fun to participate, and hopefully we’ll see some of the visitors in Norway this summer. But five days of talking to tour operators, guests and colleagues left me with almost no voice on Sunday, so it was good going back home to Norway. :)

In the meantime, we’ve had some great safaris – more on that next time!

Meet our guides!

This blog is well overdue, as our summer guides arrived already in June. But anyway, here a short introduction to our lovely summer guides!

Our guide Jo Even looking for musk ox, together with our guests Marianne & André. Thank you for joining our musk ox safari!

Jo Even

In everyday life, Jo Even is an architecture student in Trondheim, but his roots go back to the Dovrefjell area, where part of his family is from. Throughout his childhood, he spent many days here at Dovrefjell, where his grandfather, who worked with wildlife, had many great memories to tell. Now, as a musk ox guide, Jo Even creates exciting memories himself.
In his free time, he loves the sport of orienteering, which means he is very fit - I dare say the fittest of all our guides. 😉

Jo Even

Jonas

Jonas is the youngest of our guides, and he just finished high school where he majored in dancing.
He loves to perform - whether on a scene in front of a big audience, or here in Dovrefjell as a musk ox guide. In other words, don’t be surprised if you see him effortlessly dancing up a hill in search of musk ox. 😉

He is also one of Rune’s sons. Like the rest of his family, he grew up in Lesja, and thus knows Dovrefjell well.

Jonas

Ove Marius

The oldest son of Rune, and so just like Jonas, well known in the area. Often helps his father with work at the farm. The rest of the year, Ove Marius studies Film & TV production. Who knows, he might become very famous one day, so better get his autograph now when you meet him! 😉

Ove Marius

Too close for comfort!

This week’s blog: Too close for comfort! 😬😏

The summer season has officially started, and we had our first safari June 1th. And multiple times the first week, we came very close to muskox. Now, before I tell you more about this, some background information.

The muskox tend to be in different areas depending on the season. During winter, most muskox are often higher up in the mountains, mostly at areas where wind blows away the snow, which makes it easier for them to get to their food. But as soon as spring comes around, many of the muskox go down into the valleys, where spring – and food! – comes earlier then higher up in the mountains. And after a long winter with little food, this is of course very important to them.

And down in the valley, that means in the forest. The same area where we start our hikes. Which means that it is common to see muskox right next to or even ON the path, and often we don’t see them until we’re under 50 m away. And when the security distance is 200 m, well you can guess we’re way too close. And that happened on multiple occasions!
Spoiler alert: everyone survived. 😉

June 1th was expected to be a pretty “bad” hike, with lots of rain throughout the day. Not the best motivation for a bunch of 14-year old kids. But after just 45 minutes, we met our first muskox – 50 m away from us, which obviously was very exciting. The animal was walking away from us, so we waited a bit before continuing on the path, carefully looking around for more muskox. And only 5 minutes later, another muskox came running in front of us! He was probably stressed because of us, but we simply had no way of seeing him before. So, we went away from the path to give him his space. Enough adrenaline for the day – or so we thought!

On our way back, we met another muskox, this time only 10 m away. Thankfully the kids listened very well to my instructions (better than some adults, I might add), and we moved in a big circle to pass the animal. Only to meet him again – apparently he had moved as well. And this time he seemed angry! He came a couple of steps towards us and made a snorting sound with his nose, the absolute sign a muskox does NOT like you. So, we very quickly turned around, making our way through the forest back to the other path, thankfully without having any more close encounters with muskox (yes, there exists such a thing as “too many close encounters with muskox”). And if you’re wondering what this experience feels like, there are some scenes in “Jurassic Park” that give the same vibes. 😉

This picture was shot from the E6, and shows how low in the valleys the muskox can be in June. Thanks to my mother for modelling! ;)

A couple of days later, we had another close encounter, and this time I actually ended up shaking with adrenaline. The setting was very different from last time; we were up on the mountain with a good view all around and found a lovely herd with cows and newborn calves (literally the cutest thing you’ll ever see). I moved a good distance away with my group, because everyone knows you’ve got to be even more careful around mothers with babies. We sat down behind a ridge to be out of the wind and enjoyed a lovely lunch. I stood up to look through the telescope, and suddenly heard a noise behind me. And as I turn around, there are 3 muskox - a mother with a newborn and a young female - less than 20 m from us…

My heart stopped and all I could say was: “We have to go, and leave everything behind, calmly, NOW!” Thankfully everyone listened, and we were safe. Most likely these muskox were on their way to the herd, but didn’t see us until they came so close. And being this close to a muskox can already be scary enough, but surprising a mother with calf like this, phew! A real adrenaline rush!

This picture was taken right after we got suprised by the 3 muskox, and the red circle shows where they were when I first saw them. Thanks to our guests who helped make this day amazing!

So, the moral of this story: if you get this close to a muskox, walk away! Give the animals their space. Muskox usually don’t run away if they feel they are in danger, they actually defend themselves. And if you don’t know their body language, it can become dangerous. These last weeks there have been multiple occasions where people (without a guide!) got attacked by muskox because they got way too close, and stayed too close for too long. Respect the animals, and don’t think they are tame just because they are not running away from you.

That’s it for now, but it won’t be long until the next blog, as the season is getting more exciting every day. Soon all our summer employees will be here, and I’ll make sure to introduce them. :)

-          Kim