Skálanes Nature Reserve is another fascinating place we visited (though not everyone’s cup of team, I’m sure). We loved visiting Skálanes and learning about the long term research going on here, and really enjoyed the cozy, quaint and welcoming town of Seyðisfjörður.
“It’s two things that attract people here,” says Óli. “First, we have beautiful mountains, the view over the fjörd, whales sometimes, seals in summer, and reindeer; and then 600-metre bird cliffs right next to house. People like to come and look at all of that. Second, we set things up with people who want to come to Skálanes for longer—those who come to be involved with our projects, and have an interest in how the place is run.”
“This trip is definitely different from most,” says Ólafur. “For example, there’s always a bus leaving to Mývatn from Akureyri, and there’s always a boat going whale watching at Húsavík. But there’s not always something happening here. We’re aiming for something more intimate, that shows a lot about the area. We don’t want to reduce the trip to ‘Seyðisfjörður—the town of a fish factory’ or ‘Seyðisfjörður—a historic town’ or ‘Seyðisfjörður—a bohemian town.’ Because it’s all of those things, and more besides.” - Oli Pétursson
Skálanes lies on the southern side of the fjord, 19km / 6.5 mi east of Seyðisfjörður in the East fjords region of East Iceland. It takes approximately half an hour in a four wheel drive vehicle to drive from the town along a rough track along the fjord past an abandoned fish processing plant, abandoned and active small farms, and has three river ford crossings. The last 4km / 2.5 mi is therefore only passable by four-wheel drive vehicle, or on foot or mountain bike along a marked trail with footbridges. You will see wildlife (birds) and beautiful scenery en route.
Wander a few steps from the front door to watch the sea bird colonies on the cliffs. Look out for seals and whales from the black sandy beaches, and enjoy the tranquility and beauty of the wild flower meadows. The nature reserve has a wide range of natural spectacles including waterfalls, snowfields, reindeer, geological formations, archeological sites, and a large arctic tern colony.
We were dive bombed by Arctic terns nesting in the grassy areas, holding hats or umbrellas aloft to blunt their attacks, and hiked out to a scenic viewpoint, enjoying sightings of birdlife and nature concentrated to stark ocean scenery dense low bush by the winds. After, we stopped by the activity and dining rooms and learned more about Skálanes, originally built in 1927.
Skálanes is a onetime eider duck feather “farm*”, converted by the recent owners’ son, Ólafur Pétursson. His vision was to allow the peninsula farm to return to its original natural state and open it up for research. The eider farm became part of an independent nature reserve, with guest house, dining, field centre for students to carry out research. University of Glasgow, Wellesley, Southern Connecticut State University and others. Some camp, others stay in the cozy rooms available to researchers and visitors.
“We hosted about 100 students last summer, coming to do projects of all sorts,” Óli explains. “They leave the information which they collect behind for us to use. So we subsidise them, they get to do interesting work, and people who stay here can feel they’re supporting a place that’s trying to make a difference.”
8,000 ISK: Return pickup from Seyðisfjörður
9,800 ISK: Bed & Breakfast cost per person
Skálanes Nature Reserve
710 Seyðisfjörður, (northeast) Iceland
[email protected]
Skálanes | Nature & Heritage Centre
Tel: +354-779-7008
Kt: 560606 2490
Link to article by John Rogers on Grapevine.
Link to Wikipedia article on Skálanes
*Traditionally, eider ducks are neither raised domestically nor hand plucked., though there are those kind of factory feather farms that do both. Here, in nature, the ducks will migrate here to reproduce and line their ground nest with down feathers plucked from their chests. Once the eggs have hatched and the ducklings marched down to embark on their lives on the sea, the abandoned down is harvested, cleaned and either used to fill top of the line pillows and comforters, or shipped - mostly to Japan. Typically, in the old days, the Icelandic family used long winter dark days to spend time in the sod or farm house sorting and cleaning the eider down by lamp light.