Come with us for your small-group Aurora hunt for an ethical experience chasing the Aurora Borealis. Leave the light pollution in Tromsø behind and travel into the Arctic wilderness. Our guide uses forecasts and local knowledge to decide on the best place to chase the Northern Lights. When we find the best spot we will dress in warm thermal suits and boots, make a cosy campfire, and enjoy a homemade meal. During your Aurora Hunt activity our guide will take photos of you, which are for free in web-sized resolution after the tour. We'll collect data for our citizen science project. You'll follow our scientific method to collect data that will be used to protect our precious tundra.
Relax by the fire with hot chocolate before returning back to Tromsø island to your hotel. Though there is never a guarantee of seeing this phenomenon, our Aurora Hunters will do their best, every night of the season. Increase your chances to see the Northern Lights by joining on multiple evenings.
Posted By : Timberwolf3000
Went on an Aurora Hunt with Lukas (hope his Mum reads this !!) and our fantastic driver Lucasc - we'd had two previous unsuccessful trips to Iceland and Finland in the hope of seeing the NL but both were unsuccessful. Ventured off into the wilderness in our Mini Bus and because of cloud cover and low probability we feared the worst. Lukas stuck with it though and despite being evicted from our first forest stop (due to a Nato / Norwegian army exercise) we drove off to 2 other venues and were lucky enough to see the lights. A late night back to Tromso (circa 2am) but a great trip and our guide and driver were amazingly helpful, entertaining and patient - great job guys and thanks.
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Posted On : 2024-04-21 09:57:39 
Posted By : Jakob H
I had the pleasure of a great tour with Kamil and Maciej chasing northern lights. Kamil is very knowledgeable and loves to share everything he knows about the northern lights and his adopted home of Tromsø. As an added benefit he's also quite a photographer aficionado so he shared great pics after the tour.
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Posted On : 2024-04-02 03:47:47
Posted By : stephenkO3071JW
My partner and I had an amazing time and we were extremely lucky to get Bart as our tour guide who was excellent, very friendly, knowledgeable and knew exactly where to go to see the northern lights, which we were elated to see. Great tour and would recommend to anyone.
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Posted On : 2024-03-31 15:42:47
Posted By : adamlF6476JS
Anna was terrible tour guide treating us with an attitude for being 2 minutes late on the bus. We were unfortunate to be with that uptight, humorless tourguide. After half an hour drive the minibus stopped at a gas station and Anna send the driver to tell us that she has cancelled our tour and called a taxi for us. When confronting her, she said that we were rude to the driver and that is why she asked us to go. Then she told the other participants that we wery drunk. She refused to talk and hid in the bus.
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Posted On : 2024-03-29 07:27:34
Posted By : hadamatras
Our guide went out of her way to allow us to see the Northern Lights. Finally, their efforts allowed us to achieve our goal.
The tour considers details that made the trip very pleasant: the stories, conversation around a campfire, hot food and a closeness, generated by our Ely gluttony, truly special. We definitely recommend this activity.
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Posted On : 2024-02-23 03:34:52
Posted By : 340shrutib
Ellie was fantastic. Right from the start she managed our expectations really well as to our chances given the weather etc. - we left tromso in the middle of a snow storm!!
our pick up was timely and we were lucky that the group of 8 people were personable and fun even if Ellie had to focus on the road - it made our experience better and helped time go by. We had a long night where we drove past the Finnish border in the hope of catching the lady;
And we were extremely lucky; even by the standards of our guide, we had great luck and had a long aurora show for close to 4 hours !!!! We got back to the hotel really late but I think it helped that the group was always on the same page about it and there were no moments of complaints or stress.
The campfire was lovely and the soup was quite delish! The campfire was lovely and gave everyone a chance to be warm and chat while we enjoyed the show.
I do recommend eating before you go so that you don’t snack up on the drive and feel sick Incase you have a long car ride.
I think I would just like people to mentally prepare themselves that the suits etc have to be put on outside once you’re ready to camp out and just prepare yourself for the onslaught of the wind or cold. The suits once on were very effective !! But I actually recommend getting electric heated gloves so that if you have to remove your hands in the cold you can manage your heat better !!
We had to get through some snow and shovel but our group mates were all super hands on and helpful and accommodating in all aspects.
Overall, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience made much more amazing by the guide and her frankness and the people we were with. I appreciate the ease of booking this tour and given the length of it, it was easier that we were a small group with no kids
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Posted On : 2024-02-20 07:54:10
Posted By : Andrew O
We went on the adults only tour with Ellie as our guide and driver. There were 8 of us in total. The skies looked promising as we set off south looking for the Aurora. Ellie was an excellent guide and really personable. Everyone interacted well with a good mix of people. After a toilet and snack stop at a service station we headed off. We were fortunate to find some clear skies and some activity at our destination. After photos we had the opportunity to put on arctic suits and boots and 5en headed off into the deep snow to find a place to set a fire and have some food. Food was a homemade soup which was tasty. The stars above us were but unfortunately Mother Nature decided not to put on another show whilst we sat round the campfire. At times the wind blew hard taking the temperature way below -10C. It felt very cold at times. We spent a couple of hours there before heading to a couple of other spots looking for the Aurora. Nothing was happening so we headed back arriving at our hotel at 1.15am. Plus point were a small group and an engaging guide. The minus point was putting on the suit and boots outside in the cold
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Posted On : 2024-02-15 11:34:40
Posted By : hwancroos
We did both the regular and the adults-only aurora tours with Wandering Owl.
Both followed the same structure: once the group is gathered in the van, the guide summarizes weather conditions and explains where are we going and why that decision was taken. Once in the chosen spot, they hand thermal boots and suits to the passengers and they set a campfire (not a big one, but enough for some warmth and light). During the night, they offer some food (a really tasty homemade vegan and gluten free soup) and finally they offer hot chocolate and biscuits.
Guides are constantly in contact with other guides (both from their company and other companies) to share information. They are also constantly searching for aurora activity with their cameras, which can see far more than human eye and, once they find some auroras, they took really nice pictures.
First night, we only saw a very slight aurora, although the guide (Coen) did a great effort to take us some nice pictures. Second night, our guide (Jenna) first took us to a great spot (incredibly clear skies) but as she saw nothing was happening, we went again on the road and while at it, we were able to spot a hughe and unforgettable aurora.
Main differences between regular and adults-only:
- Group size: It may not sound like it, but a group of 15 (regular) vs a group of 8 (adults only) makes A LOT of difference. We felt our experience was far more personalized in the smaller group, you could see the guide really gets to know each of the passengers and conversation was fluid. Also, there was far more attention to detail in the adults only tour.
- Minors: Aurora hunting can be challenging, long, frustrating and tedious. I personally believe this is not an activity suitable for children, and it shows. In our regular group there was a little girl. Although she was well behaved, she naturally needed a lot of attention, photos were more difficult to take due to height and the difficulty of having her staying still, while her parents were visibly anxious to get her a nice picture.
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Posted On : 2024-02-13 14:56:29
Posted By : Hacer_O
We recently booked a trip via Viator with high hopes of experiencing the Aurora with Wondering Owl as our guide. Unfortunately, we can't help but express our disappointment with this experience.
The advertisement promised a magical evening, where we would be taken to one of the three designated spots, (see advertisement description below) entirely dependent on weather conditions. However, this was not the case at all. It was specifically for these locations that we booked our trip.
Instead of being taken to any of these places, the guides drove us to a parking lot along a random road, effectively ruining our evening.
The tour was supposed to be organized for a small group of 8 adults, but we arrived to find a group of 16 people. It was chaotically organized; two large bowls were hastily placed on the ground to start a fire, the suits were distributed hurriedly, and everyone was left to sit on the parking lot next to the buses. There were absolutely no clouds in sight, clear stars in the sky, a perfect moment to witness the Aurora. It turns out, retrospectively, this was indeed the case, but not with our tour. The same tour operator MAX posted exceptional Aurora photos on the same day.
The photos taken during our tour were completely photoshopped. As a designer myself, I could easily tell. While there was indeed a faint Aurora in the sky, the photos taken at that moment are not the same ones we received via email!!!
I've been deceived in my life before, but these two guys, Anthony and Maciej, shamelessly deceived the entire group. Anthony has a smooth talk and can blabber nonsense all night, making you believe that what he's photographing is the Aurora, but we actually got to witness the Aurora for real. It looks completely different from what he described during the tour.
The Aurora dances in the sky, which is totally different from what we saw that evening.
Of course, it's never a guarantee that the Aurora will be visible, but photoshopping pictures and nonsensically boosting morale in a parking lot is the epitome of deceiving people. This also completely contradicts the vision of the organization "Wondering Owl".
We've read wonderful reviews about "Wondering Owl", but these two guys have ruined it all!! We experienced 100% scam, and this is totally unacceptable!
Below is the description of the advertisement, showing how it could have been:
Kvaloya:
Some nights the clear skies are on the coast so we will chase the gaps here. On location, your guide will set up a cozy campfire and serve a homemade meal. Your guide will share stories about the region and explain the aurora borealis phenomenon as well as take professional photos of landscapes and portraits of our guests. 3 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Skibotn:
Some nights the gaps in the clouds are inland and we might chase the gaps here. On location, your guide will set up a cozy campfire and serve a homemade meal. Your guide will share stories about the region and explain the aurora borealis phenomenon as well as take professional photos of landscapes and portraits of our guests. 2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Kilpisjarvi:
On occasion, when it is too cloudy to have gaps in Norway, we might cross the border to Finland. This will only be done when there are substantially higher chances of seeing gaps in the clouds in Finland than in Norway. On location, your guide will set up a cozy campfire and serve a homemade meal. Your guide will share stories about the region and explain the aurora borealis phenomenon as well as take professional photos of landscapes and portraits of our guests.
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Posted On : 2024-02-10 05:45:20 
Posted By : 799petyas
The tour was great, very well organized. The forecasts for Aurora were really bad and it was cloudy, but we were taken to a perfect spot and were able to see more than expected. Our guide, Bart, was very experienced, knowledgeable and took great pictures of us!
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Posted On : 2024-01-29 02:32:01
