My Sojourn to Norway to see The Aurora Borealis

 

Aurora Borealis is mostly on everyone’s bucket list and was certainly on mine as well. Last winter a group of friends headed to Tromso, Norway to witness the celestial lights in action! Being from south of India where temperatures hover on the higher side, my family was a little concerned about the extreme temperatures that I would face. I did a fair bit of reading to get a grip on how cold it would be in the arctic and their concern was valid, the weather would be anywhere between -10C to -20C around Tromso!!!

In order to tackle the extreme weather conditions, I headed out to a store and promptly picked up my winter wear which included inner thermals, ski gloves, silk gloves, snow shoes, a couple of pairs of woollen socks and a beanie. If that was not enough in addition, I carried a sweater and couple of jackets as well, now wasn’t I prepared? The only thing I didn’t carry was a muffler to cover my neck, face and recommend carrying one.

With all the winter wear in place we departed to Oslo via Doha in 2nd week of January. Yes, you guessed right, we did fly Qatar airways. After a couple of hours of layover in Oslo, we headed to Tromso and reached there by the evening. On completing our immigration and picking up our baggage, we transferred to the hotel which was a 15 minute driveway.

We were of course tired and excited at the same time as we were supposed to go and see the Northern Lights later in the evening. Like what most would do, I wanted to pick up a local SIM card to let family back home know all is well. One would have thought, a SIM would be readily available in the airports at Oslo and Tromso but was proved wrong!

I bundled up and ventured out of the hotel and visited a nearby 7-Eleven store to pick up a local SIM. Picked up a My Call local SIM although Lyca and others were there, now here is an important suggestion – don’t buy it unless the stores do the SIM activation for you. It’s also advised that you should check the size of the SIM required for your phone before purchasing it!

I made that mistake and ran around frantically from one 7-Eleven shop to get it activated. Note – The 7-Eleven stores have stopped the manual process of registering and activating a prepaid SIM. A traveller visiting Norway cannot self-activate a local prepaid SIM, without an existent local number!

Fortunately found another convenience store Narvesen who activate a prepaid local SIM if purchased there, so I ended up buying another prepaid SIM! Note – You will need to show your passport as a part of the SIM activation process. The data got applied after a phone restart and I was in business! I called the call centre and requested them to apply the data from the previous SIM onto the current one and they readily obliged. All of a sudden, things were looking easy and bright 🙂

With the phone issue sorted, I headed back to the hotel room and finally spoke with my family. In the next 30-45 minutes, the bus arrived which would take us on Chasing the Northern Lights expedition. On embarking it, we were informed by the bus driver cum guide that the sighting chances were murky considering it was cloudy and the KP index was zero.

Don’t bother if you are hearing this measurement for the first time as it was ears to me as well. KP index is a 3 hour geomagnetic activity measurement on a scale of 0 to 9 with 0 being weakest and 9 being the highest in terms of visibility of the Aurora Borealis.

Although a little concerned, we were super excited and sped at 100 km/hour covering a distance of 70 kms. If you are wondering how the driver is able to manoeuvre the bus at such high speeds in wintery conditions, it’s because vehicles in Norway have to use winter tyres.

On reaching the destination, we spent time gazing at the sky for the northern lights but in vain. We then sped to yet another location and did we get lucky? Nope!

We were here in peak winter when the sightings are supposed to be stronger (i.e. December – February) but still failed to see it, perhaps we were a little unlucky with the weather not cooperating! Northern Lights as you might already know is a natural phenomenon and one can never guarantee it!

The Northern Lights are visible throughout the year with different intensities and increase between the months of September – March. The colder the temperatures with a clear and dark sky, the better are the sightings.

Nevertheless we didn’t let the non-sighting dampen our spirits as we were thrilled to see at least 2 feet of snow all around us, not something common in India with the exception of winters up north.

We disembarked and wore our arctic suit that covered us from head to toe to withstand the extreme cold. Can you now fathom the amount of layers of clothing needed to deal with the extreme temperatures? Remember we were already sufficiently bundled up but believe me that’s not enough!

Lighting a bonfire in the extreme cold and enjoying its warmth with a hot soup was something special. Can’t get better than that, right! We travelled back after an unsuccessful attempt and retired to our hotel rooms.

Although we had a chance to see the lights the next day, we did let the guide know that we will need his services in case we are not lucky on Day 2 as well. The question may arise if one needs to book northern light sighting tours in advance… One needs to keep in mind, like us there are many other travellers who come to Tromso to witness the celestial lights. Tours and vehicles are booked in advance and they have limited capacity and are strict on the permissible limits.

Hence it’s advisable to plan and book your chase in advance. The same applies to any of the activities such as Dog-Sledding, Snowmobiling and Reindeer Sledding you like to experience. You don’t want to miss out just because you didn’t plan in advance!

With all the chasing we did to see the Aurora Borealis, it does make perfect sense as to why it’s called Chasing the Northern Lights!

Day 2 was here – We woke up in the morning and after a heavy breakfast, we were off on a Whale Safari – my first and that too in the Artic! The starting point was close to Scandic Ishavshotel, as we got onto the boat and travelled for about 30 minutes – Tromso was looking so beautiful and picturesque.

Yes, the icy winds with its wind chill forced us to take cover inside the boat every now and then. A hot cuppa coffee with something to eat was so ideal and always welcome!

After travelling for about 45 minutes, the captain stopped the boat as there were whale sightings! There was a swarm of whales swimming ahead of us and I wished we could go closer to them – we did get lucky with one of them come really close to our boat.

As I had a good signal and sufficient data I even managed to even do a live feed back home of the swarm of whales and the surroundings!

The overall experience was fantastic and the whale sightings made it even more special. Looked like luck was getting on our side and we believed that we would spot the Northern Lights later in the night… Did we? Well keep reading….

After the Whale Safari, we walked back to our hotel. It is here I want to throw some caution to the wind. I strongly suggest avoiding areas where the snow has frozen and turned to ice. By the way I did slip and have a bad fall; luckily enough didn’t get injured apart from having a sore shoulder.

On our way back to the hotel, we looked for places where we could feed our hungry stomach! Being a veggie and when it comes to food – it’s always a concern! However this concern was quickly addressed with pizzas, croissants, salads and pasta being available For the ones who care to have a drink, Aqua Vit is a must have and carrying a hip flask – not bad an idea to keep you spirits high in the cold weather.

If you are up for it, you should also give ice cream a shot when in Norway. Nothing like eating an ice cream when the temperatures are below freezing point!

After resting for a bit at the hotel, we walked back to Hotel Ishavshotel again – this time to catch a bus to Camp Tamok. The bus ride took us a good 2 hours to reach the camp at Lyngsfjord.

On reaching the camp, we were taken to a place where we were asked to wear an arctic suit, helmet, boots and gloves supplied by the camp. Note – the gloves we carried didn’t seem ideal for the activity.

The gear was to get us prepared to ride a Snowmobile! We did get a little briefing on the dos and don’ts however the sheer size of the mobile amazed me as it was equivalent to the size of a small sized vehicle in India

Riding the snowmobile was something like riding a 4×4 dirt bike. To begin with it was not easy to manoeuvre and it required cooperation from the pillion as well! What I meant by cooperation is, when the snowmobile turns left, the rider and pillion need to transfer their weight to the right and vice-versa As we got comfortable, our speeds gradually increased too but one watch out for the bushes… If you do crash into one, the leader would come and bail you out – so no worries!

Now visualise this, speeding on a snowmobile at 100 km/hour across a frozen lake. Well that’s what we did after reaching a fair distance! The leader just accelerated and was out of sight, with nothing in-front of us for miles; we accelerated our mean machines and zipped past as well. This was certainly unforgettable and which will stick to my mind for a long time.

I managed to take some pictures with great difficulty as it was freezing and temperature being -20C. Now when you are in arctic conditions, please note the batteries don’t last very long as they get discharged in cold temperatures. Phones and GoPro switching off is a normal thing. My phone switched off in the midst of action and turned back once it got slightly warmer.

On returning back, we warmed ourselves with the much needed heat from a furnace.

And followed it up with traditional Sami dinner in the Lavvu tent. Vegetarian food is available if informed in advance.

We had travelled with a musician – Behram Signaporia, who played us some fine numbers despite it being cold to play the guitar. It was a unique experience hearing him play unplugged in Camp Tamok!

After a certain point of time, I gave up and went to bed too! Did we end up seeing the lights? Not really but we managed to see some traces of it as my friends came and woke us up! We felt slightly better than yesterday where we saw nothing. As they say – Something is always better than nothing!

Day 3 was here – After a good morning’s breakfast, we were ready to go Dog-Sledding – yet another activity which called for wearing the arctic suit. Initially the huskies looked menacing enough and barked loudly; however I found them really friendly and impatient to start pulling the sled.

We did get a couple of lessons on how to guide the huskies. The sled is driven by a team of two, one who sits in front and below thus providing the requisite weight to not let the sled fly and the second who stands behind and controls the huskies by applying the brakes.

Dog-sledding was simpler than snowmobiling and required us to apply the brakes as the huskies raced down the slopes, likewise some pushing to do as the huskies pulled us up the slopes. We needed to ensure our dog-sled didn’t interfere with other dog-sleds to prevent the huskies from getting into a fight.

Overall it was a great experience! Although I felt sorry to see the huskies pull the sled but must say they were really raring to go and do it with an element of ease. They of course don’t like it when we applied the brakes!

After dog-sledding, we had our lunch in Camp Tamok and returned back to the hotel in Tromso by the evening. It was our final night in Tromso as we would be heading to Oslo the next morning and had still not got a decent Aurora Borealis sighting! It would have been a shame to return back home without seeing the Northern Lights and this was constantly playing on our mind.

So we geared up for the final chase – the KP index around 2 made us fairly confident! We started a little late as we wanted to get a decent bite before heading out to the wilderness. We got an update that the Aurora Borealis was sighted sometime back and this pumped us up even more. Off we went on yet another chase…

We reached the beach side where the lights were spotted about an hour back. Looked like we were late – as Mother Nature didn’t show any remorse on us We didn’t waste much time and headed out to another location and waited and waited as the sighting was only past midnight. We lit a bonfire and yoiked (traditional song of the Sami people of Nordic nations). Our friends were getting impatient and wanted to return back as we had an early morning flight to catch. But hey, we can’t return without an Aurora Borealis sighting could we?

We kept our fingers crossed and put in a prayer as well! The Gods finally showed some empathy and the brilliant lights lit the sky and emerged through the cloud cover. It was a sight to behold as this is not visible from our side of the world. The sighting lasted for about 15 minutes but was worth the wait. Patience is the key and it was well worth it!!!

 

Post the sighting we headed back to the hotel with a great deal of satisfaction and relief to get a good night’s rest. We spent the next few days in Oslo and admired the history and the cities hustle, bustle and nightlife.

After reading about my experience, you might ask how many nights should one plan to see the Northern Lights? I would recommend to 4-5 nights in Tromso especially if you are travelling all the way there to view the celestial lights. You don’t want to be disappointed by returning back without a sighting. In the meantime you can cover the rest of the activities such as Snowmobiling, Whale watching, Ice Shoeing, Skiing, Reindeer farming and Dog-Sledding etc…

The second question you may have is whether to take a boat to see the Aurora Borealis or chase the same by bus. I personally feel the chase element is lost once you are on the boat. Secondly if you are a photographer you may not want the boat to be moving when afloat compared to a firm surface footing. If you have sighted the Northern Lights already, you could give boat a shot as well to soak in the experience. The boat trips to the Northern Lights all start from the central place i.e. near Scandic Ishavshotel.

The third question you may have is whether you need a guide to see the Northern Lights? I would strongly recommend you to take a guided tour as they know the geography the best and bring in the local knowledge and stories. They will talk about the folklores, the history, the food, the amount of time we spend in the location, the best times to sight the lights thereby bringing the best experiences.

Lastly if you plan to spend 4-5 nights in Tromso, you should look at driving/visiting (to) places such as the Lyngen Alps, Senja, Kvaloya island etc…A couple of things to highlight if you are plan to self-drive in winter would be watch out for snow covered roads and icy conditions. Check if the car has winter tyres as they are mandatory by law to handle such road conditions. Visibility could be poor when it starts to snow and it will be a challenge if you aren’t familiar to driving in such conditions. Carry a local activated SIM, a charged phone in case of any emergency and ice scraper to clear the ice from the windscreen and sides of the vehicle.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my experience. I would like to emphasize on a few points:

• Go prepared and shop for winter wear to withstand arctic temperatures such as inner thermals, sweater, jackets, ski and silk gloves, snow shoes, a couple of pairs of woollen socks and a beanie
• Don’t buy SIM cards if the stores don’t activate them for you
• Vegetarian food is available in the form of pizzas, pasta, croissants – so not a worry!
• Chasing the Northern Lights via bus is an unique experience versus the boat
• Bucket at least 4-5 days to ensure Northern Lights sighting
• Experience arctic activities: Snowmobiling, Dog-Sledding, Skiing, Ice shoeing, Whale watching etc
• Keep extra pair of batteries to capture the moments
• If you intend driving in Tromso, ensure the vehicle has winter tyres and that you are familiar with winter driving conditions
• Lastly be patient as the celestial lights is a natural phenomenon