Lapland is not bound by one country or nation: for example, there's Finnish Lapland in Finland, Norwegian Lapland in Norway, etc. The reindeer (Rudoph's friends!) are found in the north, and in Finland they are everywhere once you go above the arctic circle.

The reindeer are surprisingly unafraid of cars and people. They basically just look at you like 'Who is THAT?' and only start moving if you almost hit them or once you get out of the car. So, at 100 km per hour speed (something like 60 miles per hour), you have to constantly be on the lookout for them.

They are not about to attack you, but neither are they about to just run off when they see you. When you get out of the car, they do move, so it's hard to actually be out and ready with a camera to get a good shot with a short notice.

Some of these pictures are cropped so that you see how close they really were. Se the parts of the car, like the sideview mirrors, or the windsheild wipers? :)

We took this roadtrip to northern Finland, above the arctic circle and back, June 10 - 19, 2005. These pictures are only of the reindeers - our roadtrip pictures are in another article here: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/191973/index.html