Levi Lapland Safaris Safari Club — Local services in Tunturi-Lapin seutukunta

We went on the husky sled tour with Lapland Safaris last week. Unfortunately, we can’t recommend the tour at all. On the farm, there are more than 180 dogs, all living in kennels. It really is a breeding business. At one point, the guide even said that they try out mixing different breeds "to make the best sled huskies" possible. The dogs are super scared, many of them had their tail tucked in most of the time and looked super frightened. After the sled ride, we could pet the dogs which wasn’t even fun (or possible to be honest) since they were so emotionless and just shyed away.

One of the dogs had to be exchanged (we didn’t see why) but they carried him all the way through the path where we were queuing with our sleds. Then, one of the other huskies on the sleds bite the dog and the guide kicked the dog away with his foot…

We also got to hold some of the puppies (3 weeks old) which of course is super cute but the mom husky was so stressed (obviously) that her babies got taken away.

After the sled ride we sat down in a tipi and a guide from the husky tour explained the daily life of the huskies a bit. Though it sounded reasonable what they do, when you have a bit of knowledge and reflect a bit on what he says, you realize they make it seem super dog friendly but it isn’t actually the case. For instance, the dogs work 3 days and then get a day of "holiday" (the actual wording they use). However, what that holiday means is not leaving the kennel for the whole day and not even having the few sled rights a day to run and get exercise.

Lastly, the guides from Lapland Safaris themselves seemed very stressed. They weren’t friendly and it was more mass processing the tourists…

We are very sad about what we experienced there and feel deeply for the huskys. We wish that we wouldn’t have supported this business with 150€ per person and hope that they do a lot better in the future and stop the crazy...

Lapland Safari’s is the best experience we could have had. They facilitate our trips in the best way we could imagine.

We first went to the Reindeer farm with our guide Lisa. She’s very kind and takes us to the reindeer farm, not far from Levi. In the evening, we went on a snowmobile safari to the northern lights with Janna. This was a breathtaking experience. After a ride of 45 minutes, we arrived on a big lake where we saw the Northern Lights, spread in the sky. Janna and her colleague took the time to give us the best Northern Lights experience we could have. Eventhough, we stopped for one more time when we get back, to take some more pictures, so kind! On Thursday, Lisa and Hannah took us with another Snowmobile safari, into the woods of Levi, where we enjoyed the speed of the ATV! On Friday, we went with Manu to the Husky safari of Martin. What an experience, and especially Martin took the time to take us through the most beautifull places of Levi with the Husky’s. He’s is so good with the Huskeys!!

Finally, Jutta and Janette took us to a snowshoe walk. What we not expected was that it was not as physically demanding as we thought. A 2 hour walk over the hill of Levi, where Jutta took us to a beautifull terrace with an outstanding view. Downhill, we made a lot of fun, with a very nice group.

After all, the most memorable this of this safaris, was the kindness of our guides. Lisa, Janna, Hannah, Manu, Jutta and Janette gave us the most unforgettable experience in Lapland we could have. They all take the time to enjoy your trips. Definitely no other company could have done this better! Thank...

I will go as far as calling this a tourist trap. Mind you this safari is on the website as a 2,5 hour tour.

Well for starters if we were in the reindeer sled for half an hour, I think I'm being generous. What is worse, the reindeer sleds are all connected. This means the reindeer pulling the second sleigh, is pulled by its head by the first sleigh and so on. This looked very uncomfortable for the animals. Furthermore they were sometimes crashing into the sleighs before them. In other words they were trapped between the heavy sleigh they pulled and the sleigh ahead of them. It looked to me this was the cheapest way for the herder, because he only had to be at the front. Horrible.

Then after this disappointment we went to a tent were we got some hot juice and a cookie. The tour guide then asked the group some questions and gave us mostly lame facts about reindeer, the aurora and Lapland. Things you could easily read on Wikipedia or from any random person from Lapland. This took a lot of time, he was clearly stalling for time. The tour guide was a friendly guy, just to give you something positive.

There was a very slim chance for the Aurora that night because it was cloudy. But even if there was one, we wouldn't see it, because we are in a tent listening to lame stories. Why the tour is called Aurora Hunting beats me.

After probably over an hour, listening to stories we went outside. Now we were wandering about aimlesly waiting for the bus to pick us up.

We paid about 158 euro's per person for this! Unbelievable. I have never been this disappointed in a tour before.

This was absolutely no...