Narvik, Norway - Day 8 - July 9, 2023


This morning we docked here in Narvik, Norway about 8 AM.  Narvik is located on the shores of the Ofotfjorden and has a population of just over 20,000.  





Narvik is an ice free port year round (despite its location 140 miles above the Arctic Circle) because of the influence of the gulf stream. The mean temperatures vary from 28 F in January to 58 F in July. The port can accommodate ships of any size and was considered a strategic port during WWII due to the iron ore that is shipped from Sweden.  See more about the Narvik battles here.

Our excursion "Visiting with the Wolves" started at 9 AM.  We had an hour's drive north to reach the Polar Park - Arctic Wildlife Center.  It is the world's northernmost wildlife park.  The animals live in large, spacious enclosures where they are free to roam.

The park is open year round and brown bears, wolves, wolverines, arctic foxes, lynx, musk ox, red deer and reindeer are the only animals found here. 

We started our visit with a safety lecture on the rules of visiting with the wolves.  We were told ahead of time not to wear down, leather, or any clothing made from animal products and no sunscreen, scented creams, perfumes, etc. A few people had on puffy jackets they had to take off.  If they jump up and scratch your clothing and any filling comes out, it excites them and they want to play with it.   The 3 wolves that we were visiting (2 females and 1 male) had all been raised around humans.  

We had to enter with our arms folded and lifted in case they jumped up on us.  After that we formed a large circle and could kneel down with one knee.  All our movements had to be slow so as not to startle the wolves.  If they grabbed ahold of our arms with their teeth, we needed to wait for one of the two park guides to remove them.  This only happened to one person in our group.


We were with the wolves for just under an hour.  When we first got there, they came around to check out each one of us.  During that time, I got kisses from two of the wolves.  My mouth is tightly closed as they told us the wolves like to french kiss but and don't have smelly mouths.  I decided i didn't want a wolf tongue in my mouth.



After awhile they got bored and went to lie down.  Only two of the park employees can regularly enter the wolf enclosure, our guide and the CEO of the park.  They were both with us and at one point the CEO howled and the wolves howled back. You can watch a bunch of our videos here:  Benz Travel Videos

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Abc_Kw_mYUzgz7OnzMY_1_x7nB20y8p

I really enjoyed the encounter with the wolves.

Also within the wolf enclosure is the Wolf Lodge. You can see it behind us in the photo above.  They only rent it out 15 days during the year and there is a 3 night minimum stay.  It rents for $60,000 - $75,000 for the three nights (depends on the exchange rate).

None of the animals in the park have ever lived in the wild.  Norway has a law that doesn't allow wild animals to ever be put in captivity.  This sounds humane until you learn that they have limits on the number of animals that live in the wild in each section of the country and if the populations get to high, they have designated hunters that kill them.  They have a female moose in the park that needs a mate, but the wild moose are killed rather than being given to the park.  The animals here have very large, spacious enclosures.  Charlene, you can weigh in on whether you think killing them is the more humane solution.

After the wolves, we went to visit the wolverine (only the guide went inside). Although she said she is not allowed to have a favorite animal, she clearly likes the wolverine.  She had to go search for him and had a bucket of fresh lamb pieces (past its sell by date) to entice him. You can see videos of the wolverine at Benz Travel Videos


 
We also spent time watching the Arctic foxes, Musk Ox and brown bears.

Arctic Fox


Musk Ox

Brown Bears


We concluded our visit to the park with a soup and bread luncheon before heading back to the ship.

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