Feeding Reindeer in Norway

My mom and I visited northern Norway specifically to see the Northern Lights, which had been on both our bucket lists for years. But Tromsø has a ton of fun things to do, so we wanted to add some other excitement into our three days there, especially if we didn't get to see the lights, we didn't want the trip to feel like a total miss.

So, for our birthday, we took a bus from Tromsø to the mainland and then northeast to a village where the native people of northern Scandinavia (the Sami) live and herd reindeer.

Purchase this photo in my shop! Click the photo to visit Benpa.redbubble.com.

They have over 350 reindeer that they feed in the winter and then let wild in the summer. This arrangement is a direct result of climate change, which has made it very hard for the reindeer to find their own food in the winter. As they explained to us, in past years, it snowed, and the reindeer are skilled at digging through the snow to find their food underneath. However, now that it is warmer, it actually rains a lot more in the winter. This is worse for the reindeer because it will rain and then freeze over, and the reindeer can't break through the frozen ground to forage for food.

So for the past ten years, the Sami people here have been feeding reindeer in the winter (and getting tourists to pay to feed reindeer) so the local reindeer populations do not starve.

The reindeer were fun and would hit each other out of the way with their antlers to get at our food buckets. I do have a slightly sore forearm from getting in the way of such an attack. I was surprised though that they would take a bite and then walk away so someone else could get in. Seemed awfully nice of them.

You may be surprised as I was to learn that the antlered reindeer here are for the most part females. The males shed their antlers every year and grow them back in the spring. I tried to pet one as I was feeding it, but reindeer don't like to be touched. Apparently, they don't like the smell of humans (I was wearing deodorant, I promise), so they just walk away if you put your hand out.

A Reindeer Sled Ride in Tromsø!

We also took a little sled ride with the reindeer, which was arguably too cold. The cold was more manageable when we were walking around and could pop back into one of the huts with a bustling fire. It was a little too chilly to be just sitting down on a sled. The ride just went in a big loop around the area where the reindeer were allowed to roam. There wasn't really much to see. It was more for the experience of having the sled ride, but it really just amounted to looking at a reindeer butt for fifteen minutes. Getting to feed the reindeer was definitely my favorite part of the experience.

For lunch, the Sami cuisine options were vegetable or reindeer stew. Naturally, my mom and I both chose vegetable...