Cairngorm Reindeer Herd — Attraction in Scotland

This is basically a Reindeer farm. I thought from reading the website that they were 'bringing reindeer back to Scotland' and reintroducing them to the wild the way they used to roam. That's not the case. They are fenced in always. Their herd is kept at about 150 through selective breeding. It's a big farm, but still... they're captive reindeer living on fenced-in land.

I was hoping there was some sort of information on how bringing reindeer back to this small area of Scotland for the past 60 years has affected the ecosystem. I was saddened to hear they had no information about that. It seems to be just a for-profit endeavour.

You can't pet or touch the reindeer. You do get a small handful of feed that they quickly gobble and walk on. It's a reindeer "encounter." I thought it would be like other animal encounters where you can stroke the animals, but no. Hands off. No petting.

The website and emails are quite assertive about the required clothes. They even threaten to turn you away if you fail to turn up dressed appropriately: "Even with a good forecast, bear in mind it is essential that you're well prepared with warm clothes, waterproofs (even when dry these can help to keep you much warmer), hats, gloves etc – everything that was specified upon booking. Most of the route to the reindeer will be on a path, but the last section is not, and the ground underfoot where the reindeer is extremely wet and boggy, so hiking boots/wellies are essential - if we don't feel you are adequately prepared we won't allow you to take part, particularly as regards footwear - and we will not refund you in this circumstance. Please DO NOT turn up in trainers!"

We didn't own waterproof trousers so we spent an additional £40 and bought them specifically because of the email saying we could be turned away without them. I was a bit annoyed to find that one woman in our group was wearing a mini skirt and TIGHTS (not thermal tights) and dress boots and no one said a peep to her about inappropriate clothing. We could have saved that £40 and just worn jeans.

The hike was about 15 minutes long and was up and down steep hills. There are no hand rails. I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone with any type of mobility issue to do this hike or small children as it could be dangerous.

The views were stunning. The reindeer are gorgeous. They were comfortable around humans and would lay a few feet away. The guides were friendly and answered all of the groups questions.

Overall, it was nice but probably not something I would do again.

Update: When I said it was a deer farm, they were offended. Turns out THAT is exactly what they are. I won't be able to share links but they cull the deer and process the meat. Like a FARM. Google it.

They won't let you pet the reindeer as they aren't pets and deserve respect as wild animals, yet they slaughter...

I was incredibly excited to come and see the Reindeer's at this center as they clearly put a lot of time and energy into what they do however one person very much let the place down when I had the displeasure of interacting with them. One of the young Reindeer's came over to me lifting their head over the fence to see me and I stroked the top of the Reindeer's nose. Then several staff came through to do some training exercises with them and several staff members stroked the head of this same Reindeer and gave her attention that she was clearly wanting as she was excited to see them however when they went through, the reindeer came closer to myself again allowing me to stroke them again. However a member of the team then came over to speak to me and rather than having the confidence to say "I'm so sorry, we don't allow visitors to stroke them' and going about it in a professional manor, she indirectly called me rude and made me feel very unwelcome. My husband who was further away, heard the interaction and was concerned about me after because she spoke to me in a way that was not polite or professional. In that instant, it ruined the entire experience leaving me feeling incredibly embarrassed especially when another couple came into the paddock and was doing exactly what I did and more but since others were around, this one staff member didn't say anything at all. I am 100% happy to follow rules should I know they are in place as well as also being told in a polite and professional way. I would hope you read this and change your attitude and have the confidence in future to simply say what you do and do not allow rather than indirectly calling someone rude. This put an incredibly negative view point from myself on the center and we quickly left however not before seeing the Reindeer's chained up in harnesses galore all so they can drag a Santa's sleight. Please do not make visitors feel so awful when you are making them drag a sleigh and having contact with them by placing them in numerous harness to do this in the name of training. I am not impressed and had I not been so shocked at the experience, would have been asking for my money back. Train your staff in customer interaction. The paddocks were very small with little to no enrichment for them other than to have to drag a sleigh for exercise. I'm sad that I have to give it one star to post because the staff member that let the whole team day...

We did the hilltop walk on 19 February. While it was fascinating to see the reindeer, the walk up and down was simply too dangerous for us to enjoy the experience.

We had to take a long flight of stairs up, which I understand is the only way to see the reindeer where they are since they are free-roaming. However, the weather conditions, with strong gusts of wind, made the climb very dangerous. With each step, we felt like we were losing stability and being swept backwards because of the strong gust of winds.

When we finally reached the top, we were informed we were only allowed to feed the reindeer once. While I understand that feeding limitations have to be put in place to protect the reindeer, we saw that this guideline was not consistently applied, and others were allowed to have another go.

The way down was even more dangerous. We were told by the guides to make our way down on our own when we were done. We had absolutely no guidance besides the simple instructions of “stay to the side of the snow fence”. There was no steps or clear footpaths, and the ground was uneven, icy and slippery. In the end, two of us ended up falling multiple times and in the process sprained our ankles and wrists very badly. Our holiday is ruined as we are resting in the hotel rooms with a badly sprained ankle.

I’m absolutely aghast by the lack of safety protocol and guidance by the guides. When we sprained our ankles on the way down, we couldn’t even ask for help because we were quite a distance away as both the guides decided to stay with the reindeers and some of the participants. In the end, another participant had to help us down.

Given the circumstances and extreme weather conditions, we would have appreciated if we were given the option to opt out or wouldn’t have minded if the trip was cancelled. Safety always comes first and it was really quite a traumatising experience for us as we felt our lives were in danger at some point yet we couldn’t really do anything much...