The Animals of Polar Park

30/08/2025

I had promised Paul a day off after our big hike. A chance to rest the legs. I’m not sure our next stop really fitted the bill. But it wasn’t a hike or a bike ride

Arriving at Polar Park

We left the parking area for Spanstinden mountain and drove a little further along the E6, ignoring the directions of Google Maps which wanted to take us up a dirt track and taking the turning which was signposted Polar Park.

I’d wanted to come here since seeing it in the Lonely Planet guide for Norway. It’s a wildlife park specialising in the larger herbivores and predators found in northern Scandinavia. Spacious enclosures provide the animals with a level of natural habitat to roam in. It sounded like the perfect opportunity to see animals we were unlikely to ever spot ourselves out in the wild.

We arrived before closing time, but we didn’t want to visit until the morning, so I popped into the ticket office/cafe/gift shop and checked it was ok to stay overnight. We were given the ok and I bought Paul an ice cream as a treat.

Parked at Polar Park

That evening we witnessed the strange comings and goings of other motorhomes and camper vans. It always intrigues me how people choose where to stay. A handful of vans came in, looked around and then decided to leave. Obviously they felt the parking wasn’t for them. A couple of vans stayed in other corners of the car park and then at about 9pm three Italian vans turned up and parked right next to us.

I joked with Paul that it probably wasn’t even dinner time for them yet, and so it seemed as they then got tables and chairs out and the children retrieved a football from one of the vans for a bit of a kick about. As they settled into cheerful noisy chatter we were already getting ready for bed and Paul, in a fit of pique, got in the driving seat in his underpants and drove across to the other side of the car park.

The voices of the Italians were then replaced by the howling of wolves from the park, an eerie sound that made us realise just how close we were to some apex predators.

Despite the best endeavours of the Italians and the wolves we had a good nights sleep. We slept right through to the morning when we allowed ourselves a lie in. The park wouldn’t be opening until 10am.

Visiting Polar Park

Once the park was open we made our way in and paid for our tickets. We got a wrist band each which meant we could go back and forth to the van if we wanted to. We were given a park map and were told we could use QR codes on the information boards to get more information.

Our first circuit around the park coincided with the herbivore feeding so we got close to the deer and the Musk Oxen as they chomped on pellets and leafy branches. We decided not to bother with the reindeer as we were 99.9% certain to see them in the wild.

Then we made our way to the predator enclosures. Paul was the first to see a lynx, a fleeting glimpse of mottled black and russet through the trees. We watched carefully as it prowled along the slope above us, turned to give us a brief stare and then disappeared like the Cheshire Cat. An utterly magical experience.

Paul was on super-spotter form as he next spotted wolves and wolf cubs in one of the wolf enclosures and then a bear on a distant slope far from the main enclosure. We were disappointed we didn’t manage to see a Jerv (aka Wolverine). We later found out that, in summer, mornings are the best time for spotting the animals in their enclosures as they often retreat into the shade to sleep in the warmth of summer afternoons.

The arctic foxes were playing for the cameras. These utterly cute opportunists were very happy to be close to the general public. Just like their UK cousins they will eat pretty much anything and even ‘in the wild’ will happily coexist with humans.

After walking around all of the enclosures (the paths were a lot hillier than our legs really wanted)  we stopped for ice creams in the sunshine. The weather was truly glorious and I enjoyed my first  lakris (liquorice) ice cream.

We ate our treats while waiting for the 1pm predator guiding to start. This takes place every day during the summer season and every weekend in the winter. It’s free with the ticket, so anyone can join.

We joined one of the staff members as she took us around the predator enclosures. With a bucket full of treats and her knowledge of the animals it was quite easy for her to tempt them out of the shade. Except for the Lynx that is, we were so glad we’d seen one earlier as neither were playing ball.

There were three wolf enclosures, one with a single wolf, one with a group of three and one with a bigger pack. It was the cubs from the bigger pack that we had seen earlier. There was a marked difference between the behaviour of the bigger pack, who were less socialised, and the behaviour of the other wolves who definitely had become accustomed to the staff feeding them tid-bits.

The Wolverine we had failed to see earlier bounded through the undergrowth to it’s enclosure entrance. This large member of the mustelid family had sharp claws and teeth but the keeper was happy to be in the enclosure with it and said it was her favourite animal in the park.

Wolverines are more populous than I imagined, there are over 1000 in Scandinavia, mostly inland spread across the Sweden/Norway border and usually found in close proximity to Reindeer. In fact it made me a bit paranoid about walking in the woods after we saw how easily it climbed trees to get treats. I know it will be more scared of me, but the thought of it lying in wait above us was a bit unnerving.

In the bear enclosure all of the bears were ready and waiting to be fed, lounging against the wall in the central part of their enclosure. We could see that one of the bears and one cub were albinos with a paler fur and pink nose and ears.

We loved the whole experience. Feeling very rewarded by the animals we had spotted on our own, but also enjoying the 1pm guided tour. We would would definitely recommend that people visit in the morning and stay for the tour. The only thing that was missing for me was more information. The information boards were good but I would like to have a deeper dive into the animals, conservation and the way that the park is operated. Information about other smaller arctic animals would also help to make it a more rounded experience. A new visitor centre is being built and it will be interesting to visit again and see whether that adds the extra context I was look for.