Vicki from our office was in Finnish Lapland last week checking hotels for our Northern Lights Holidays – she had an exceptional evening under the aurora borealis.

30 November 2011 – After getting kitted out in my thermal snowsuit and equally fetching accessories I headed out to the snowmobiles with the rest of my group. A quick, but comprehensive lesson later we mounted our steeds and were ready for the off. As my thumb depressed the accelerator trigger my anticipation built with the noise of the engine and then we were off. Slowly to start with we headed along the trails into the forest, under bridges and across frozen lakes, the only lights to guide us coming from the full beam of the headlights. As we increased our speed, the cold blast of air hit the only exposed flesh of my cheeks and I was suddenly grateful for my fetching thermal attire which was more than doing its job. The heated handle grips helped, as did the warm juice during our mid-safari break and it was here in the darkness of the wilderness that we first saw the faint glow of the silent northern lights. Back on board and with twice the confidence we hit the throttle and were off on our homeward journey. A quick pit stop in the middle of the forest to let the others catch up resulted in an unforgettable experience, as above us the night sky came alive with the most incredible aurora display. Vivid green bands of light danced in the sky creating swirls and waves before the colours faded only to emerge again in a new location. As the colours turned from green to red to a hue of blue I lay on my snowmobile, head resting on the handle bars and lost myself in the silence of the moment, knowing that this could possibly be a once in a lifetime experience. And it is one I will never forget.

photo taken from the snowmobile

It has been a little while since we’ve managed to write on the blog, mostly due to the amount of last minute enquiries for Christmas breaks to Finland both for northern lights holidays and dog sledding. Our winter activity holiday programmes are a big hit this year it seems. Equally safari holidays for next spring and summer are picking up with the southern African countries being ever popular, in particular Namibia safaris and Botswana safaris. There are some great itineraries we can create that combine both and often your safari holidays will begin or end with a stay in either Victoria Falls or Cape Town. Both Namibia and South Africa are great destinations at present with the pound strong against the rand to which the Namibian dollar is linked.

Other news is that as always we attended the annual travel trade fair in London and have up to date information on a good number of properties around the world and some exciting new destinations we hope to market in the coming year. Along with this we are creating an terrific new website to showcase the accommodation and great images of the countries we work in. We are sure all of this will inspire your wildlife holidays for next year. In the meantime here is a pearl-spotted owlet from a Namibia safari earlier this year.

The Arctic ice cap is starting to grow again now after a season which did not quite shrink to the size of last year. In Svalbard it was certainly an “ice” year with continuous north winds ensuring that the pack ice did not let go of its grip on the islands. This meant for incredible images and bodes well for next year when this ice will act as a base for the new ice. In the meantime the Polar nights are encroaching and with so much talk recently about the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, it is worth considering Spitsbergen as a destination. Here in Longyearbyen from October onwards the northern lights can be seen day or night so long as there is clear weather and auroral activity. With snowmobiling and dog sledding opportunities underneath this spellbinding phenomenon it makes sense to consider a short break to see the northern lights from one of the world’s most northernmost communities. We are currently preparing a programme for northern lights holidays in Spitsbergen, please ask for further details.

    The Northern Lights can be    

    seen on our winter holidays    

    in Finland.    

The mythical and certainly magical Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis form curtains of light across the night skies of the northern (and southern) polar regions. It is often thought that these veils of colour can come close to Earth but until just a few days ago there was only speculation about how they moved across the sky and at times burst into colours.

A year or so ago NASA launched 5 satellites called THEMIS to study aspects of the magnetosphere. They now believe that the movement or dancing of the Northern Lights known as substorms, are formed initially in the Earth’s magnetic field around 1/3 of the way to the Moon. Here these magnetic field lines are interupted by the Sun’s solar winds and when they snap back into place, just as poles of two magnets would, this sends charged particles back towards Earth. These reconnections thus cause an increase in intensity and expansion of the Northern Lights and ultimately the re-distribution of the electrical currents flowing in space around our planet. To understand more about this fascinating and beautiful phenomenon you can enjoy a talk by a scientist from the Geophysical Institute in Sodankyla in northern Finland on our ‘Searching for the Northern Lights’ holiday short breaks.