Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
trails are often washed out or in poor repair, there are rivers to cross, and the extremes of
terrain are exacerbated by volatile weather conditions.
Bordering Sarek to the north is the mountainous and thickly forested
Stora Sjöfallet
'Queen of Lappland' and crowned with 10 glaciers. The Kungsleden dips briefly into the
southeastern corner of Sarek and passes through Stora Sjöfallet. At the eastern end of the
park you can cross the Stora Lulevatten lake on the STF ferry (summer only) to
STF
Saltoluokta Fjällstation
( 0973-410 10;
www.svenskaturistforeninggen.se/saltoluokta
; dm/
d/q Skr325/1295/1580; Mar, Apr & mid-Jun-mid-Sep)
, a mountain station consisting of a
main timber building and five satellite guesthouses. The on-site restaurant serves excellent
northern Swedish dishes, and numerous guided wilderness tours are available, including
kayaking and a hike up
Lulep Gierkav
(1139m) for great views of the two parks.
LAPONIA WORLD HERITAGE AREA
prising the mountains, forests and marshlands of Padjelanta, Sarek, Stora Sjöfallet and
Muddus National Parks. Unusually for a World Heritage Area, it's recognised both for its
cultural wealth and for its natural wealth.
Established in 1996, Laponia encompasses ancient reindeer-grazing grounds of both
the Mountain and the Forest Sami, whose seven settlements and herds of around 50,000
reindeer are located here. The Sami still lead relatively traditional lives, following the
reindeer during their seasonal migrations. The Mountain Sami winter in the forests,
where there is lichen for their herds, and move into the mountains in summer, while their
Forest counterparts follow their herds through the forests year-round.
Gällivare
0970 / Pop 18,425
Gällivare (Váhtjer in Sami) and its northern twin, Malmberget, are surrounded by forest
and dwarfed by the bald Dundret hill. After Kiruna, Malmberget (Ore Mountain) is the
second-largest iron-ore mine in Sweden. And just like Kiruna, the area's sustaining in-
dustry is simultaneously threatening the town with collapse into a great big pit, so build-
ings are gradually being shifted to sturdier ground. Gällivare's biggest attractions are ore-
