ROMANCING WITH WOLVES
Head to snowy Norway for close encounters with wildlife — and the northern lights
OLVES are vicious animals. They have snarled through history as some of the planet’s greatest predators, pouncing on helpless prey all over the world — Russia, Europe, North America — with no mercy.
In northern Norway, they’ve been known to savagely attack. With kisses.
I experienced this firsthand on a trip that was ostensibly to see the northern lights, the rare, usually ghostly green light show that occurs in the northern night sky, best seen between September and April. My initial destination was Narvik, a small town just an hour-and-half flight from Oslo. Narvik is perhaps best known for its iron ore and WWII naval battles. More recently, a vast, clear sky and nearly nonexistent light pollution have made it a hot spot for aurora borealis seekers.
A rapidly developing tourism infrastructure makes it easier to visit, and activities already rooted in place there add a dash of winter magic: A historic train — the northernmost in the world — romantically snakes through the mesmerizing, snow-capped fjord landscape like in a fairy tale; a gondola takes skiers to some of the country’s best slopes and panoramic city views; and Norwegian boats cruise the sea in search for eagles and elk.
From Narvik, Jonny Cooper from Off The Map Travel (one of the most competent tour operators in Scandinavia) drove me one more hour to wildlife sanctuary Polar Park in the town of Bardu.
Quite literally in the middle of nowhere, Polar Park is where wild animals like wolves are born and bred in sprawling enclosures, socialized with their keepers and living longer, healthier lives as a result of their upbringing.
Unlike at a zoo, you can get close to Scandinavian brown bears and lynxes in natural habitats. And starting in 2008, visitors were given the ability to “kiss the wolves” after the keepers — Stig, Heinz and Cattis — realized the animals pose no threat.
And since January 2016, they can sleep with them, too.
That is, visitors can bunk in a modern bi-level farmhouse inside the wolf enclosure, which allows for a thrilling and fully immersive experi- ence (from $8,770/night; you must book the whole lodge, which sleeps up to 17;
PolarPark.no/Lodge). A safe one, too, as one of the keepers always stays overnight there to keep an eye on things. The rules: be calm; don’t make sudden movements; and no dramatic gestures.
It was through the lodge’s floor-to-ceiling windows that I caught my first glimpse of the wolves. Outside by the door, a pack of 20-month-old, 85-pound wolves darted through the snow. They were no more than 100 feet away.
Even more thrilling was when Stig opened the door and two wolves made their way toward us. He stroked their gorgeous fur coats and spoke to them like one praises pets, asserting himself as the alpha male.
After a dinner of cod stew, we stepped outside to try to catch the northern lights. Awestruck, I watched the wolves eye me back and then listened to them howling through the night.
It was the next day, after we left our cabin in snazzy jumpsuits and trekked the 5-acre enclosure to meet the wolves, that I made contact. They frolicked close, like domesticated dogs. I got to my knees and a pack of wolves cornered me — then went after my face with lapping tongues. Some even curled by my side for belly rubs.
It was a magical moment — and there’s no other place in the world you can do this.