Scandinavian Trip - Day 6 - Rovaniemi Ranua Wildlife Park

The temperature was -7 degrees and the first reaction from my son was that it felt so hot! Indeed we all felt that way after the previous two days with less than -20 degrees. Human body does adapt fast to changing environments!

Today's itinerary was simple - visit the Ranua Wildlife park for an upcoming encounter with arctic animals and then visiting the Korundi museum if possible later in the day. We had a snowy morning and the it was an easy excuse for the family to have starting trouble - we eventually left the apartment about 1 hour later than planned. Winter time is not the best to visit the zoo due to the short daylight hours, which is when the animals are at their most active. However, this opportunity to get to see these unique animals was too good to miss. So, off we brushed the snow off the car and set off on a drive of a bit more than an hour. 

Even before we left the city, I made two mistakes. I didn't realise there were two separate signal lights at a junction before turning left, immediately after which I banged into something on a bridge. I was relieved to find that I didnt scratch or damage anything, just a knock on the side view mirror that had turned a bit - which I managed to restore. The highway  drive was beautiful with the wintery landscape, although a bit uni-dimensional, with tree canopies covered with snow in all directions, crossing frozen lakes and fields, and managing the skid at times. There were three major skids that I caught, mainly because of dipping a wheel in the shoulder snow in trying to give too much space to passing traffic. Apart from that, the drive was pretty smooth due to well-maintained roads. 

On reaching the Ranua zoo, we stopped for a buffet lunch with a lot of vege options (salads, baked potatoes, pizzas) to fill up our stomach. It was surprising to see an Indian guy being part of the staff there. With one in 5 people in this world being an Indian or Chinese and a well connected world, this shouldn't really be that much of a surprise, but it did surprise. 

Before we embarked on visiting the animals, we enjoyed the snow a bit as it was snowing at the moment, which got more intense as we went around the enclosures. It was mostly an open air setting so it's much better to visit in summer. But we managed to see the key attractions before catching the arctic fox feeding session. We heard that Arctic fox is notoriously difficult to spot otherwise. But they came out in force with the eagerness of puppies when they smelt food nearby. They also played for a while after having their fill before retreating to their camouflaged homes. 

Watching the majestic polar bears and wolverines in their natural habitat and fight with each other was the other key highlight. The different types of arctic owls and eagles were a sight to behold. The free ranging ravens intrigued with their adaptability. Overall, it was a short 3 hour trip to the zoo but was worth it. 

Since we were back to the city earlier than expected and the kids didn't want to go to the Korundi Museum, we decided to explore the city centre a bit. We realised the city centre is extremely compact place with everything within walking distance. Driving is the more circuitous route. We drove to the Revontuli shopping mall and thankfully the car had automated parking registration. Since it was an hour to close, everything was almost empty. We took a smoothie and walked along to the shopping mall next to it. One cute little feature of the bottles here is that the cap doesn't completely come off, ensuring that you never lose the cap or it doesn't fall down. The other shopping mall, Rinteenkulma, was much more lively with souvenir shops, supermarket and eateries. We picked up some souvenirs and Karlfazer chocolates, which has become our staple on this trip. The best thing is that you can just leave the chocolates out in the open in this climate and nothing happens. You just eat whenever you like!

We came outside to realise that the Scandic hotel and the place we started out aurora tour were just there! And the Indian eatery place was just around the corner as well, so we ordered a takeaway food. In the meantime, we strolled up to Lordi square with its iconic tower (its exaggerating, as it was just a 1 min walk). There was also a nice ice skating ring for kids and adults to enjoy, along with another shopping mall. There were more local mum and pop stores there selling souvenirs, but the quality wasn't that great. Nearby, there was also a winter park that the young kids would enjoy in, although mine were a bit too old for that.

Finally back home, we enjoyed the Indian food, although we had ordered a bit more than we could chew, literally. Again, couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to finish this memoir, so had to do it the following morning!