Mikael Vinka

18:th of September 2009
Today my host and guide in Ammarnäs is Mikael Vinka, sami and tourist guide and runs his own company Lapplandsafari. He takes me in his 12-seated wooden boat to his settlement Geunja on the shore of lake Tjulträsk. Mikael is a hunter and fisherman as well and knows animals and plants and everything about the sami culture in the area.
This huge bull who´s antlers he´s holding, he shot a couple of years ago.

Yellow mountains

18:th of September 2009
The mountainside birchforest is all yellow. You can only imagine how beautiful this would have been in sunshine but even in this dull, foggy drizzle it´s just amazing to see.

Dogs on watch

18:th of September 2009
As Mikael drive the boat, the dogs attentively keep watch for wild animals along our way.

Old settlement

18:th of September 2009
As we drive further into the waterworld of Tjulträsk we pass an old sami settlement along the shore.

Geunja

18:th of September 2009
Geunja is an old Sami settlement where Mikael Vinkas ancestors stayed at least 1000 years ago. Artefacts several thousand years old have also been found on the site. The place is situated on a small peninsula in the lake Tjulträsk and is only reachable by boat. Here Mikael brings visitors to stay and enjoy the silence and wilderness and learn about Sami culture and traditions. Birds and Mammals are appearing rignt on his doorstep hear, including Bears and Wolverines.
Today´s weather might not do pictures full justice, but this place is one of the most charismatic ones I´ve seen in the Swedish mountains.

Good for a bite

18:th of september 2009
Even if the moose-antlers are a couple of years old, they are still good for a (dog)bite.

The njalla

18:th of September 2009
The Njalla is where you traditionally store meat during winter. However standing on high poles, it does happens that hungry Wolverines bite their way through the wood to get to the meat that smell so good in times of hunger.