19/08/2025
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately – we do have to pay the bills) I am still having to work as we travel. I took a week off initially to allow us to move quickly without having to stop for signal for meetings, but now I’m back at it. Don’t feel sorry for me though, at the moment I’m only working one day a week while I wait for things to pick up a little. Exciting times are afoot at the company I’m currently working for who have just been sold, but it’s not impacted my work yet.
Snøhetta Camping
We decided to stop for a couple of nights at Snøhetta camping so that I could work with a bit of comfort. Electric hook-up was welcome to keep my laptop powered up and showers with underfloor heating were a little luxurious touch. Sadly the mobile reception wasn’t as good as I’d hoped as the campsite really is in the middle of nowhere (it’s located in a small hamlet called Hjerkinn), but I just about made do by turning off any video. I only had to repeat myself a couple of times.
Parked up at Snohetta camping
We had another reason to stop here – it’s on the edge of the Dovrefjell-Sunndasfjella National Park. This is one of the only places in Europe where Musk Ox can be seen in the wild. These majestic, shaggy, prehistoric looking animals can also be found in other Arctic areas but only Greenland and Canada have native populations.
Musk Ox were re-introduced to Norway from Greenland several times in the 1920s and 30s after going extinct due to habitat loss and over hunting. It seems that the reintroduction was partly a guilt response to the fact that Norwegians hunted Musk Ox in Greenland with almost the same result (or maybe a desire to grow a big enough population to hunt at home). After the second world war the animals had disappeared yet again and a further reintroduction was attempted, this time the population stabilised. Better enforced protections, and the establishment of the national park, helped to keep things settled, although they still have issues to contend with. In-breeding and sheep borne diseases have conspired to keep the population small. Now there is a population of around 300, about one for every square kilometre of national park. It makes spotting them a little tricky
Musk Ox at the Snøhetta viewpoint
After I finished work we had planned to walk up to the Snøhetta viewpoint. It’s a timber lined hide overlooking one of the valleys in the national park, somewhere to sit in warmth and watch for signs of the local fauna.
The Snohetta viewpoint, complete with woodburner
As the weather the following day was not forecast to be great we were really hoping to see them here. Our alternative was a longer hike into the interior of the national park, possibly with a guide and almost certainly in the rain and a howling gale.
Our walk up to the viewpoint was straightforward but the wind was already gusting and the temperatures had dropped significantly. Yesterday we had been eating ice cream in 28°C. Today I was wearing my woolly hat in 8°C. We stopped at the car park wondering why we hadn’t just driven up and then forced ourselves to walk up the rest of the hill to the viewpoint. Our eyes strained with walking straight into the sun and the wind whipped around us. It was a tedious walk especially as we’d convinced ourselves we wouldn’t see anything. Now we just wanted somewhere to drink our flask of tea out of the cold wind.
At the car park, looking up towards the viewpoint
Snuggled up in the corner of the viewpoint building, with a hot flask of tea and the sun streaming in through the glass window, I started to scan the valley for any signs of animals. I decided to concentrate on the water courses so I focussed my monocular and scanned along the stream.
A dark brown spot caught my eye but didn’t seem to move and I dismissed it as a rock. When I scanned back again I was sure it had changed slightly and focussed in a bit more. Then I saw it, turning it’s horned face towards me. A Musk Ox! Too far away for photos (believe me I tried) but visible.
Paul was very put out that I had spotted it before him and insisted on staying until he saw something too. I was happy to just watch the one I’d found as it climbed out of the stream bed and worked its way up the hill. Just as we decided it was time to pack up for the day and head back to the campsite Paul made his spot. Of course it had to be better than mine – a group of three, one of which was definitely a calf, all higher up the slopes where the original animal was heading.
The valley where we spotted the Musk Ox
Mountain scenes as we walked back (not real reindeer 😀 )
Completely hyped by our experience we walked back down to the campsite, talking about the Musk Oxen, wondering about their herding behaviour.
As we approached the campsite we saw movement in the hedge in front of us and were almost as surprised by a young arctic hare as it was by us. It sat for a while frozen in place in front of us as it tried to decide whether to run. A perfect end to our evening of wildlife spotting.
Arctic Hare