Wandering Owl — Local services in Tromsø

My husband and I did an aurora chase on 2/20/2024 with Florian Kuhnt and his driver (failing to remember his name...sorry!). This tour is also known as the Citizen Science tour on Viator. This was our 2nd of 3 tours we ended up doing in Tromsø and this was the best one, even if we only saw 1 aurora for 5 minutes only 10 minutes into our return trip. I’ll explain in detail exactly how the evening went to do Florian and the company justice and help other people who are considering Northern Lights tours from Tromsø.

Prior to departure, they sent us an email stating that the conditions would be "challenging" but that they would do their very best to find us clear skies. I was surprised that they would go out of their way to admit this - neither of the other 2 did and I appreciated the transparency.

Florian was promptly at the meeting point and attendance was taken; we then boarded a fairly comfortable black Mercedes van. Prior to departure, Florian briefed us on the plan - the other 2 tours I picked did not do this basic communication very well. He also gave us an overview of what he would do during the tour and was explicit about his intentions - constantly checking multiple weather sources, a WhatsApp chat group to sync up with other guides (there are dozens) who share photos of the areas they are checking, and previewing exposures with his camera to see if any aurora could be detected since they cannot always be easily seen by naked eye.

We drove out about 1 hour 45 minutes to a parking area near øverbygd with one bathroom break stop along the way. Other tours also stopped at the same place and Florian encouraged us to be swift so we could beat the line and get back on the road and be at our spot earlier in case things got crowded. During the drive, he gave us a digestible background of Tromsø and other cultural facts about Norway to keep us engaged during the (long) drive through the night.

Once we arrived, they set up a metal bowl for the bonfire and some folding chairs. They also gave us thermal suits we could use. It wasn’t terribly cold at first but after sitting out there long enough it got colder fast. After settling in for the wait (clouds were not on our side), he talked about aurora science, then served us some of their homemade lentil soup and cookies – a nice, light snack to hold us over – and offered some warm drinks as well. Throughout the evening, he was still checking his camera/monitoring the situation about once every 5-7 minutes. He was a great conversationalist and was willing to share information about what to look for in weather/aurora forecasts, what to trust/not to trust, etc. My husband and I learned a lot.

Due to forecast predictions changing, we reboarded the bus and drove to 2 other locations as the night went on. We did see a faint glimmer behind the clouds at one location, and just as we started to head back to Tromsø, he spotted another one, so we pulled over and watched from the middle of a road. Mind you, we had all taken off our thermal suits and had pretty much given up hope, but the glow turned into a fairly bright display, even if it was only for a few minutes. This coincided with the clouds finally clearing up enough to stretch across the sky.

I guess the story has a happy ending, but even if it didn’t, given my poor experiences at the other 2 tour companies, I was grateful to have had at least one positive experience, even if the show itself was short and sweet. Florian did take some photos of us which he sent out a day later, along with a link to his photography website. He is clearly of professional caliber and his portfolio proves it.

TL;dr: Florian @ Wandering Owl is amazing and is incredibly professional and communicative. If other tour guides run the tours this way, they will give you a...

Disappointing Experience with Wondering Owl via Viator

We recently booked a trip via Viator with high hopes of experiencing the Aurora with Wondering Owl as our guide. Unfortunately, we can't help but express our disappointment with this experience.

The advertisement promised a magical evening, where we would be taken to one of the three designated spots, (see advertisement description below) entirely dependent on weather conditions. However, this was not the case at all. It was specifically for these locations that we booked our trip.

Instead of being taken to any of these places, the guides drove us to a parking lot along a random road, effectively ruining our evening.

The tour was supposed to be organized for a small group of 8 adults, but we arrived to find a group of 16 people. It was chaotically organized; two large bowls were hastily placed on the ground to start a fire, the suits were distributed hurriedly, and everyone was left to sit on the parking lot next to the buses. There were absolutely no clouds in sight, clear stars in the sky, a perfect moment to witness the Aurora. It turns out, retrospectively, this was indeed the case, but not with our tour. The same tour operator MAX posted exceptional Aurora photos on the same day.

The photos taken during our tour were completely photoshopped. As a designer myself, I could easily tell. While there was indeed a faint Aurora in the sky, the photos taken at that moment are not the same ones we received via email!!!

I've been deceived in my life before, but these two guys, Anthony and Maciej, shamelessly deceived the entire group. Anthony has a smooth talk and can blabber nonsense all night, making you believe that what he's photographing is the Aurora, but we actually got to witness the Aurora for real. It looks completely different from what he described during the tour.

The Aurora dances in the sky, which is totally different from what we saw that evening.

Of course, it's never a guarantee that the Aurora will be visible, but photoshopping pictures and nonsensically boosting morale in a parking lot is the epitome of deceiving people. This also completely contradicts the vision of the organization "Wondering Owl".

We've read wonderful reviews about "Wondering Owl", but these two guys have ruined it all!! We experienced 100% scam, and this is totally unacceptable!

Below is the description of the advertisement, showing how it could have been:

Kvaloya: Some nights the clear skies are on the coast so we will chase the gaps here. On location, your guide will set up a cozy campfire and serve a homemade meal. Your guide will share stories about the region and explain the aurora borealis phenomenon as well as take professional photos of landscapes and portraits of our guests. 3 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Skibotn: Some nights the gaps in the clouds are inland and we might chase the gaps here. On location, your guide will set up a cozy campfire and serve a homemade meal. Your guide will share stories about the region and explain the aurora borealis phenomenon as well as take professional photos of landscapes and portraits of our guests. 2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Kilpisjarvi: On occasion, when it is too cloudy to have gaps in Norway, we might cross the border to Finland. This will only be done when there are substantially higher chances of seeing gaps in the clouds in Finland than in Norway. On location, your guide will set up a cozy campfire and serve a homemade meal. Your guide will share stories about the region and explain the aurora borealis phenomenon as well as take professional photos of landscapes and portraits...

We went on the Adults Only Aurora Hunt. This was one of five hunts we went on, with four different service providers, and it was our clear favorite.

You receive an email after booking, telling you to be at the Ishavhotel prior to your departure time. Our hunt occurred on our second day in the city, and we were still a little unfamiliar with everything. We got to the hotel early. There were a few people standing around for other tours, but there was no signage there or tour representatives. Eventually there were a lot of people there and mini buses started showing up later. Suddenly guides started calling out names of their group. We were starting to worry there was a problem with our booking, but our names were finally called several groups later. This initial meeting seemed a bit chaotic, but the same process was used by three of the four tour providers, though one of them had a marked minibus that made it easy to spot.

There were only six of us in our group, so our minibus had plenty of room and was comfortable. Unfortunately, as the temperature dropped later in the hunt, the side door quit working; so, we had to lay back the driver's seat and climb in and out over it to get in and out of the minibus.

Our guide, Tomas, immediately explained the plan for the evening as we left Tromso. He was very engaging throughout the evening. We discussed the science of the aurora, and he also told us about the native Sami culture. All of it was interesting. He was the second oldest of our five different guides. He was mature and professional, but also very upbeat and excited about us seeing the aurora.

We drove three hours to the Finnish - Swedish border, near Keinovuopio, Sweden. We stopped once at a small store where snacks and toilets were available. We stopped again somewhere near Skibotin, Norway, where we saw a beautiful aurora display! Tomas took photos of the group and the aurora. He easily could have called it night, having seen the lights, but we drove on to the Keinovuopio area, where we set up for the rest of the evening. We were once again treated with a beautiful aurora show! Both spots were very picturesque!

The hunt included tripods, help with camera settings, a warm fire, food and drink, and warm clothing. Everyone in our group had their own photography equipment and there wasn't much discussion about settings. I feel certain assistance would have been given, if requested. The soup was rather bland, but it was hot and was fine for the circumstances. My wife used the provided boots and found them to be much warmer than her own. It was also nice that folding chairs were available for sitting by the fire later in the evening! The tour also included free web-size resolution photos and original resolution size photos were available for purchase. We purchased three of the higher resolution photos and received a separate link for downloading them. This link was only good for seven days. It would have been nice for the link to last longer, as we traveled for another three weeks. I would have liked to download the higher resolution photos directly to my home desktop computer.

After a long, enjoyable evening we packed up and headed back to Tromso, where we were dropped off at our hotel.

Despite the small issues discussed above, we found this to be an extremely enjoyable tour. We could not have had a better guide than Tomas! We're considering returning to Tromso for the next aurora season and will definitely book with...