Ráidu – Reindeer sled with Sami culture

Immerse yourself in Sami culture. Listen to reindeer herders who talk about their everyday lives, feed the reindeer, try to capture a strong stag with a lasso, and test drive your own reindeer sled in the white, wintry Lapland.

Not far from the world-famous Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, it is only a short journey by snowmobile and sled to the Reindeer Lodge in Sautosjohka. Here there are tents and an enclosed pasture full of reindeer. In the field are a few tame reindeer, stags. They are specially trained to pull sleds in a traditional way. However, that doesn’t mean they always do what you want…

Everyone goes into the pasture and feeds the reindeer. A reindeer herder talks about the reindeer, this pillar of the Sami culture, and demonstrates how to throw a lasso and catch a reindeer. When the reindeer are captured, they are harnessed and everyone gets to drive a reindeer sled around a short track in the forest.

Then it’s time for a sandwich (gahkku bread with smoked reindeer meat) in a tent, where we sit on reindeer skins around the crackling birchwood fire. In the light of the fire, we hear more about the Sami culture and the everyday life of the reindeer herder, both then and now.