Are you an expeienced musher or a dog lover keen to learn mushing ? Do you know how to look after Huskies ?  If so join our team as a volunteer, exchanging some labour for food and accomodation. Dog sledding is part of the work you have to do as the dogs need plenty of exercise.

 If you love dogs and the great outdoors this will be your best volunteering option ever. We have a number of locations in Lappland where we need help to look after the sled dogs in a number of locations in the north of Norway and Sweden. At one of our husky farms the managers are Sameh and it is possible for volunteers to experience living in a lavvu, a tent made from rheindeer skin and pine poles, very similar to the North American tipi. However most of our volunteers prefer the comforts of one of the hand made log cabins at our Karasjok base.  The buildings at this farm are all individually designed and built, with a number of modern conveniences in some of the cabins, but they all have a really interesting finish with a variety of natural products being used to give a traditional feel. In one example which has under-floor heating, an electric shower and modern toilet, the furniture is made from natural wood with all the major root structure in tact, making a natural set of legs for a stool or table. Wood is used in so many different ways, such as large noduals have been used to provide door handles and in some cases simple staircases.  Rheindeer antlers have been imaginatively used for coat hooks and to store cups etc.

Keeping the theme of natural products the floors and some surfaces are made of blue slate. The soft furnishings being animal skins and there are displays of the traditional clothes of the Sameh people. Each residential cabin is different and in addition there is a special cabin for group meals as well as a traditional cabin used for smoking fish.

There is also a sauna, of course, and an American style hot tub. The setting is a hillside above a beautiful river with a good helping of birch and pine and dotted with rheindeer tracks everywhere. Each cabin is unique as everything that can be made from wood has been fashioned with great skill. There are coat hooks fashioned out of antlers and tables and chairs made from wood.  The walls are usually decorated with Sameh traditional clothes in the form of a display and furs hang on the walls and well as being used as rugs on the floor.

 If you can prove suitable experience of all aspects of looking after sled dogs and and at least 7 days of mushing, you can stay for a minimum of 2 weeks, otherwise we have a minimum of 4 weeks, plus a higher volunteers registration fee (see below). Maximum stay is 2 months. You will start work at about 8am (often in the dark) to feed the dogs and clean the compound. By 10:30 the volunteers will have had breakfast and are helping guests to harness the dogs. Then off into the hills for 3 - 5 hours of mushing.


Registration Fees: GBP200 if proof of experience can be provided, otherwise GBP600

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What some of our clients have said about their time in Lapland

Comprehensive personal insurance is required for volunteers. For UK volunteers we recommend the policies of the British Mountaineering Council, for their expertise in evacuation from remote areas worldwide. Details at www.thebmc.co.uk  As Insurance is always provided by a company based in your home country, we are unable to suggest suitable insurance companies unless you reside in the UK.