Eager beavers make early bookings

Four beaver families from Norway have arrived in the UK as part of an historic plan to reintroduce the toothsome mammals to Scotland after they were hunted to extinction over 400 years ago. In the forested regions of central Sweden, animals such as Beaver, Wolf, Brown Bear and Elk still thrive and indeed outnumber the local human population.

On Naturetrek’s 5-day Sweden’s Mammals tour, guests track Wolf and Elk, and search for beavers with specialist guide, Marcus Jonson.

It is just a short international flight from Stansted to Västerås and a drive of less than an hour to the tranquil and beautiful forests of central Sweden, home to Elk, Wolf, Beaver and Brown Bear. Naturetrek’s guide, Marcus Jonson, lives in the forest and spends much of his time tracking and watching its four-legged inhabitants. Marcus leads travellers on foot through the forests using only animal trails, sharing his knowledge of tracking both Elk and Wolf and demonstrating various ways of communicating with them, some of which have been used by the region’s hunters for thousands of years.

Guests are based in the heart of the forest at a lakeside guesthouse next to a Wildlife Research Station dedicated to the conservation of Wolf, Lynx and Brown Bear. A further highlight of the holiday includes searching for Beavers at dusk as they commence their evening activities. For the final night in Sweden, guests transfer to a comfortable Bear hide amidst lakes and rolling forested hills of Hälsingland. Here, the hide offers front row seats on bears’ nocturnal foraging together with comfortable beds to those preferring to get their heads down.

The tour costs £985 p/p including flights, transfers, accommodation, all meals and expert wildlife guiding.

Tour departs London 5th May 2009.

For more information, log on to Naturetrek.co.uk.