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The 120,000 reindeer of West Finmark spend their summer on the coast, and migrate inland, around 150 km, to winter lichen pastures surrounding Kautokeino. We left the fall activities of District 27 for the Lyngen Peninsula, a summer pasture of spectacular snow-capped mountains and golden birch, where herders were still marking calves and preparing their reindeer for the migration towards Kautokeino. We camped there next to the sea and learned to throw the suapan (lasso) with Berit Anne Oskal Kemi, her family and the rest of District 33T.

It was three a.m. and raining when the flat-bottomed boat hit the shore and lit up the corral with blinding floodlights. The bow doors split open, a ramp was lowered, and the crew hurried to lash together a temporary fence up to the corral gate. The herders chased small groups of reindeer down the steep bank to the beach, and onto the boat, which can hold up to 600 animals. We joined two young Sámi girls for the 13-hour roundtrip journey to a small bay where the migration route continues cross-country. It will take over a week to herd the animals to Kautokeino by ATV.

If reindeer on a boat seem like an odd combination, to understand it, you must first untangle a web of increased government regulation and private development on traditional pastureland and migration routes. These same pressures also limit the ability of herders to adapt to changing climate conditions.

Earlier in the week, we drove two hours east through Finland to Ovre Soppero, Sweden, where we spent a few glorious days mending fences and visiting with herder Britt Marie Labba Paivio. She has restored an old farmhouse and built several traditional Sámi buildings, including a turf hut, smoke house and llavo, to teach local children and foreign tour groups about the Sámi culture. Learn more about her company at www.mineallin.com.