SCHOLARSHIP DAY 53: Guided Reindeer walk through the snow

During the second week of October, Alaskan's are supposed to be able to view the Orionid Meteor Shower. According to the Alaska Dispatch, 25 falling stars would fall every hour, early on Sunday morning. Naturally though, here in Fairbanks, skies were cloudy and I wasn't up for staying awake all night for the possibility of seeing a couple! I was also suffering more effects of the food poisoning; believe me, it isn't fun.

Fortunately though, I awoke after a long night's sleep, recovered. For now, anyway! The day was a clear and bright one; the Sun was shining, and certainly the weather was great for a guided walk with a reindeer, which is what as it turns out, actually happened.

There's this small little family business called 'Walk the Reindeer' that offers tourists and the public alike, guided hikes through the Boreal Forest, accompanied with Reindeer. (This is probably what makes this opportunity different from any other I've seen since I arrived here in Fairbanks). I did consider doing it but understandably, they would charge me $70 for just me to walk with the reindeer, probably because one-person tours would not be cost effective. However, they only charge $35 for a group, and I had managed to join Katherine, Lina and Kirk (the three German-speaking hostellers staying here) which was a good result. Without a car, the only way of getting there would be an all day walk or a taxi ride, and at sub-zero temperatures, we opted for a taxi ride.

Bill Bryson's Notes from a small island that I listened to last weekend, observed that taxi drivers often don't know where their destination is, and ask the passengers for help locating it. It just happened to occur with us today; the taxi driver had not been to this Reindeer farm before and asked us-who incidentally had not been there either- to help find it. Luckily, we found it pretty quickly and the cost of this journey only amounted to about 5 dollars each.

Jane came out to greet us; between herself and her husband, Doug, they have been greeting visitors for the last couple of years, and the business seems to be doing well. You can see Jane's passion for wildlife, and it came across by the way she approached the Reindeers. If you're wondering, Jane's daughter wanted horses originally, but Jane's allergy prevented that, so eventually the two settled for Reindeers! What a story, eh?

This wasn't just a visit to see Reindeer in their cages. One by one, Jane brought a few out; we were allowed to stroke them, and despite their occasional threatening moves with their antlers, they all seemed very tame. She explained the story behind each one; how old they were, their behaviours and routines and after a short little safety talk, we were on our way with our walk.

 

 

The walk was perhaps shorter than I expected, but halfway throughout, one of the reindeers got a bit restless and managed to escape from our control, ultimately running back to the enclosures. (It was a homing-reindeer!) I learnt a great deal on the walk; the Reindeer like to eat lichen off the ground in the tundra, and even more fascinating, Reindeers can see UV radiation, and therefore can seek food under 3 feet of snow! Impressive adaptations. We concluded the walk just as the sun was setting, and Jane invited us inside her house to warm up. A cup of hot chocolate and homemade cookies put a nice touch on it. And so, there we were; having a lovely conversation with Jane, beside a wood burner that was only adding to the warmth emitted from the lady's warm attitude and caring heart.

We expected to see the Northern Lights tonight; the forecast was a '3' and the skies were clear. I've stayed up, keeping an eye out for quite a few hours now, but it's now just after midnight, and I'm beginning to think "maybe another time..."