Puoltsa
Our farm is located in a small village called Puoltsa (Buolža in Sami). It is between Kiruna and Nikkaluokta, next to the river bank of Kalix river. Here we have had the business since 1997.
Ratekjokk
Ratekjokk is a small Sami village located on the south side of Kalix river, a bit below the tree line. We stay overnight here on our riding and snowmobile tours. Both Matti and Kerstin have their roots in Ratekjokk so this place is really “home”. We have a few houses there, a sauna right by a small river and the horses have lots of pasture there in the summertime. Matti’s family has lived and worked here in the roadless land, with water from the river but with luxury like electricity. We cross Kalix river to get her, by boat, snowmobile, skies or on horseback over the mountains.
Nikkaluokta
70 km west of Kiruna the car road ends in the village Nikkaluokta, and it is replaced by high mountains. This is where most hikers start their hike towards the Kebnekaise peak, the highest mountain of Sweden.
Today Nikkaluokta is a well-visited destination, but thousands of years before the entry of the tourists, Sami people have been living in the mountain area around. Nikkaluokta was situated along the moving track for the reindeer and it was a good place to stop for the reindeer herders. The first permanent settlement (teepees made of peat) was set up in the beginning of the 1900.
Ofelaš started with riding tours in Nikkaluokta 1997. Today we ride day tours in beautiful Láddjovággi during summer and autumn.
Read more Nikkaluokta Sarri AB
Sami communities
A Sami community (village) is not what we normally would call a village, but an economical and administrative community that care for the reindeer in the area of the Sami village. There are about fifty Sami communities in Sweden and the reindeer herding area covers around half of the area of Sweden. Just a small part of the Sami population are members of a Sami community. A lot of the Sami culture is carried by the reindeer and that’s why it is so important.
Leaváš and Girjas are Sami communities in the mountain area. Here the reindeer normally are in the west, close to the Norwegian border, in the summer and in the lower mountains during autumn and spring. In winter time they are more east in the forest land.
The area where we have our company is both in Leaváš and Girjas Sami communities.
Read more about Sami people, Sami communities and reindeer herding at samer.se