Day 6

Monday, September 19

We start our day in a very relaxed manner this morning. Plans for the day are to head inland and see some moose. As we head back into Västervik for the umpteenth and last time it's nearing noon. The guy at the tourist information is helpful again and provides us with the address of a moose park that hasn't closed for the season yet so we head on to Malilla while devouring some Subway sandwiches.

Smaland changes quite a bit while we get there. We drive through a large valley, the forest has retreated, instead there are huge fields laying bare after the harvest. A hazy sun shines overhead and tints everything golden as we follow a gravel road to the moose park.

The moose are shy at first but later on we get an opportunity to see them up close, feed them oak leaves and even touch the little one's nose. They are huge, even the calf is massive, even more so the bull with his prominent antlers.
When they lie down they bend their front legs first, then very awkwardly lower their hind quarters.

Now it's time to sleep apparently!

On our way out we have a chat with the owner, a young woman about my age who runs this place together with her husband. They are from Stockholm and moved here only last year with their three children - what a huge step from a town flat and a cat to this large compound with a dozen moose, goats and rabbits!

We ask her how they care for the moose and she tells us that there's not much to be done except feeding and watering and there's also not much known about them or how to treat them should they fall sick. They more or less just let nature run its course.

A mysterious object.

We stand there chatting for a long time and have an overall great afternoon at the moose park. When the afternoon turns into early evening the search for a camp spot starts again: We pick an area with several lakes, drive there, park the car somewhere and head off into the woods. Tonight's home is the shore of a quiet forest lake. The water is so warm and looks so inviting I've already made up my mind to go for a swim but the first step into the water has me stand ankle deep in muck. This is not what I envisioned! So I just wash quickly, put on whatever clothes are within reach which is how the weird picture below came to pass!

Soon we encounter the masters of this forest: huge red ants and their equally massive anthills. The ants are everywhere and it's the first night we sleep with the moscito net of the tent closed. During the night a slight drizzle begins to fall but nothing serious.