Adventure
Camping
Lifestyle
Living in a Nordic tipi
The boy and his unicorn
3 Jun 2015
Raised in the deep of the Swedish forests, Sigurd has a playground not many of his four-year-old fellow country men even set their feet in. In this guest post we meet this lively kid from the perspective of his pro-blogger Andrea Hejlskov. Do yourself a favour and read more of her adventurous escape into nature at http://andreahejlskov.com/category/blog Alright then, here we go!
Almost four years ago we left modern society to go settle in the wild where we built our own log cabin. We wanted to start all over. We wanted to see if we could not find another, and maybe a better way, of being a family. We now spend our days raising kids and maybe awareness too, I don´t know. It´s a quiet life and a simple life. Primitive, yes, we do not have running water nor electricity (well, we do, we have a solar cell) but never without a deep sense of meaning and being connected… to the larger whole. To nature.
This post is about Sigurd. Sigurd is four years old. He grew up in the wild wilderness woods of Värmland, Sweden. This post is about his tipi.
Yesterday we had the first night of winter frost so we decided to move the tipi. It´s been standing down by the lake for visiting friends and family but we wanted to move it closer to the cabin so that we might have some extra space.
Initially it was decided that I should have it as a “writers retreat” (hi, I´m Andrea, I´m the mother, I also happen to be an author of this book for instance: http://www.saxo.com/dk/og-den-store-flugt_andrea-hejlskov_paperback_9788799537921 ) but it didn´t take long before little Sigurd decided that we don’t really need a writers retreat or a winter hut, no, what we needs is somewhere where he can play with his favorite play animal: the pink and fabulous unicorn called “Hjørni” So we went down to the lake to fetch the tipi.
We call this “the shitty bridge” or “the worst bridge ever invented by human kind” and you unfortunately have to cross it to get to the tipi.
And then we began to dismantle the tipi which I didn’t take any pictures of because it was not really interesting. Lunch was more interesting.
Then we began to raise the tipi which Sigurd found to be very boring work
So he went scouting for some wild sorrel which he eats with great joy.
Then he decided to climb some trees
For a minute there he thought about creating a spiderweb from the lines of the tipi but somebody yelled very loudly that he shouldn’t even BEGIN think about it.
So he went on a mission to explore and conquer the surroundings
After a good while he came back carrying with him a stone meant for further exploration
Then it was time to go fetch Hjørni!
Uh, cosy!
“I wonder if that mother person also brought some cookies?”
“Hjørni wants hot chocolate too!”
“Hey mom, is it ok that I rule the tipi from now on? You don´t really need a place to write anyways, right, you have me!”
And that was that.
So unfortunately I can´t write about our Tentipi or the reasons why we have it, but some time ago I wrote this https://andthepioneerlife.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/the-tipi/ I gotta go now. Sigurd wants to camp out by the tipi tonight “We´ll be like winter bears” he says, exhilarated. Oh, forest life, I do love you.
It was the first day of the trip, adventurer Mike Fuchs and his friend Eric Folz had just a couple of hours before been dropped off as far north as they could possibly come in Svalbard when they saw them. Two polar bears, one mother and its cub. A situation that could become deadly if the bears decided to have a closer look on their new visitors.
“I know how protective the mothers can be of their cubs. We had to set up our camp in a place that provided a good overview of the location so we could spend the night bear watching. It was both a scary feeling seeing them so early into our trip, but it was also very fascinating”, says Mike Fuchs.
Wouldn't it be exciting to spend the night right in the middle of a zoo? – That is exactly what you can do at Skånes Djurpark, a wildlife park in southern Sweden. At their campsite, Camp Oak, you stay in the park after it closes and will make yourself at home in a Nordic tipi from Tentipi. When the night comes you might just fall asleep to the wolves’ howls.
Skånes Djurpark is a Wildlife Park with a long history, it dates back to 1952. It focuses on animals from the Nordic area and has always lived by the ruling with “no animals in cages”. The animals live in large paddocks that recreates the animals’ natural environments.
Lennart Pittja is a Sámi entrepreneur with a mission: with his world-renowned eco-tourism company he wants to spread the knowledge about his people – the Sami, indigenous of northern Scandinavia and Russia. With over 20 years of experience as a wildlife guide and nature photographer in the arctic region he started Sápmi Nature Camp. Where his guests stay in Nordic tipis from Tentipi on his reindeer herding land outside of Gällivare, in northern Sweden.
At Sapmi Nature camp you can experience real winter, see the northern lights, eat traditional Sami food, and have a cultural exchange in a genuine atmosphere. The scenic location has gained attraction from around the world. In 2017 it was listed by National Geographic as one of the top 21 places in the world to visit if you care about the planet.
Prepare before setting out for winter camping. Here are nine tips and tricks from Tentipi about what you need to think of before you go: the right tent for winter camping, how to pack the snow, comfort in snow, which tent pegs to use, where to pitch the tent, about snow weight, what heat sources can be combined with the tent, how to make a fire safely and other equipment.
Choose tents according to occasion, different tent types work differently at winter camping. When it’s icy, the tent needs to be more robust than a tent which is exclusively used in summer. The tent frame needs to withstand a certain amount of snow and functional ventilation is important. If you want to use a heat source, for example a fireplace or a stove, the tent needs to have ventilation openings both at ground level and at the top. Without a heat source, a smaller tent is preferable, as it heats up faster when the air volume is smaller.
A tent from Tentipi is a Nordic tipi and the tent has eight or nine sides, if it is not the smallest that has six sides. In the smallest tent you can stand straight if you are less than 160 centimetres long and in the largest you can get together several thousand people. The tent is versatile in more ways. Continue to read to see why these tents are so flexible and adaptable. This blog post is about the smaller tents in Tentipi's range, tents used by adventurers, families, hikers and others who want to live close to nature for a shorter or longer period of time.