Boreal Wildlife Centre, Kainuu, Finland

5ZamboMil 5:00 PM Jul 30, 2021

Bears, a lot of bears
I spent two great nights in Boreal. The first night was near a pond and the second in the forest. In the pond I had 6 bears at the same time in an "alaskan" environment and good light, even if about 20 mt distant. One of them, a very accustomed bear called Yogi, crossed the pond swimming and ate salmon at less than one meter from the hide. For the rest it has been a quite night. On the other hand, forest hides were visited several times by 7 bears during the night, and by a wolverine in the early morning. Boreal has hides also near a swamp, that allow clear and wide views around: wolves were seen there the night before my visit. For photo shooting Boreal is excellent, but as I'm never totally happy, I would say that too accustomed bears reduce a little bit the excitement for their arrival. It's an old story: if animals are seen too easily, they don't look natural enough, but if they don't appear or stay far away, it's surely worst. Kari, the owner, is a very nice guy. Food is good. The rooms are nice and clean, but the hides that I visited were pretty dirty. In general, the several negative opinions about the cleanness of Boreal (and other sites as well) are perfectly understandable. However there are old and new cabins, not all in the same conditions, and a renewal is undergoing. Finally, my opinion about Boreal is definitely excellent: they perfectly guarantee superb bears sights. The rest matters very little.

5Cedric N 5:00 PM Aug 21, 2013

Great experience for wildlife photographer
We plan to stay initially for 3 nights in the hides. First night it was in a small hide at the main place. Then we stayed one night at the pond, then another night in forest. We finally decided to extend for two other nights at the main place.Hides are... hides. When you are used to stay whole nights in forest you will find it pretty comfortable. If you are not used to it you may find it tough.It doesn't always look natural, but there are plenty of opportunities to take good photos of bears, wolverines and wild tailed eagle in a natural environnment.I don't recommand the big hide. It looks more like a shooting place than a wild place in the middle of nowhere.Rooms were cleaned. Staff was friendly.