A Unique Home Stay in Norway with a Sámi Reindeer Herder

Layered in more clothing than I thought humanly possible, with not an inch of skin being shown for fear of frostbite, I hopped into the front seat of a sled being pulled by a snowmobile for an almost two hour expedition deep into the Arctic tundra.

This ride, that immediately froze my goggles to the point of where there was zero percent visibility the entire time, would lead me to an experience that could never be erased from memory. The next few days would be spent in negative twenty-five degree temperatures with a reindeer herder and his family—an authentic immersive home stay with an indigenous Norwegian Sámi family.

The Sami People & Culture

The Sámi are indigenous people to the very north of Europe, in the arctic area of Sápmi, which spans the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. There are approximately 80,000 Sámi living in these four countries with a majority in Norway, and specifically in the Finnmark…