About Us

TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence

We joined TripAdvisor at the end of 2015 and were delighted to be awarded its Certificate of Excellence in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Certificate honours accommodations, restaurants, attractions and vacation rentals that deliver consistently great service.

GOLD - World Responsible Tourism Awards 2015

We were thrilled to receive a GOLD award in the Animal Welfare category of the 2015 World Responsible Tourism Awards, announced at the World Travel Market in London. The process began over six months earlier with an in-depth assessment of our procedures, practices and plans. From the largest-ever long-list of c. 200 companies across over 69 countries, just 37 from 20 countries made the final cut - and ours was the first Finnish company to get this far. Winning confirmed our resolve to keep showcasing optimal standards of care and to drive improvements industry-wide.

Travel and Hospitality Awards

The Travel and Hospitality Awards named us 'Cultural Tour Company of the Year' for Finland (2019-20) and 'Adventure Activity of the Year' for Finland (2019). These awards recognise hard work and accomplishment across the travel industry and long-standing customer satisfaction.

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Award

In 2006, Anna was awarded a prestigious Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Award for her leadership of an innovative and inclusive crossing of the Greenland Icecap - a team that included paralympic athlete Karen Darke. We have rehosted the majority of the expedition website, since our aim was to disseminate information about the kit and clothing developed to make the venture possible so that others could more easily follow in Karen's footsteps.

How to give us feedback

Our multiday clients generally fill in feedback forms immediately post-tour, but there is rarely time for that for the short safari clients. You can always just contact us directly, or fill in an online feedback form - there is a Multiday Safari Feedback Form and a Short Safari Feedback Form, both powered by Typeform.

Feedback through social media

Social media is an increasingly trusted source of information about the potential value of an organisation prior to booking. If you checked us out on your favourite platforms prior to booking, please help the next person by also sharing your experiences on TripAdvisor, Facebook, YouTube or Instagram so that the testimonials are kept up to date.

Sharing your blog, photos or videos

If you are writing a personal or travel blog about your time with us, we would love to read it, and if you are writing a press or magazine article, please share it afterwards. If you cut a video or share photos, please hashtag #HettaHuskies and #ResponsibleMushing - this spreads the word and helps us find cool photos of the dogs. Better yet, send your photos directly via Dropbox or WeTransfer. We try to collate images of all the dogs each year so we can pass them, post-adoption, to the people who give them their final homes.

FAQs re booking

Covers how and when to book, choosing the best month to visit, deposits and invoices, cancellation terms and the client information forms we ask you to complete before arrival.

FAQs re kit

Covers the clothing and personal equipment you should bring versus what we provide. Our top tip is to not bring too much — we supply the warm outer layers needed for mushing.

FAQs re the safari

Covers what to expect day to day on a safari, fitness and driving requirements, whether children can come, food and accommodation in the wilderness cabins, and how we look after both clients and dogs.

Key definitions

'PII' (Personally Identifiable Information) refers to any information that relates to an identifiable person, whether directly or indirectly related - data such as names, an ID number, location data, an online identifier (e.g. cookies) or features expressing the physical, physiological, genetic, psychological, economic, cultural or social identity of that person.

'Processing' means any operation carried out with or without automated procedures in connection with personal data; the term covers practically every aspect of handling data. 'Responsible' means the person or body that decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data - in this case CAPE Lapland Oy / Hetta Huskies and any third parties we cooperate with. 'Data Subjects' have the right to request information about what data we hold, to access or correct it, to restrict its processing or to delete it, and to object to future processing at any time.

Hetta Huskies' commitment

At Hetta Huskies we have always honoured our users' right to data privacy, and as a small business we generally collect and process personal information only as required for our products to function. We carried out a mini data protection impact assessment (DPIA) covering the PII that we and our third-party partners collect, how it is processed, and when and how it is disposed of.

What PII do we process?

We understand that providing information online involves a great deal of trust on your part. We receive and process PII when you approach us by phone or email and when you enter information on our website or social media channels. This includes basic contact details and inventory data when you enquire about products; billing information to process payments; detailed medical information to identify anyone at high risk of cold-related injuries; dietary, medical and travel-plan information to optimise pre-tour preparation; survey responses and shared content (photos and videos); dog-update schedules for sponsors; and marketing communications about our offerings, which we consider a legitimate business interest.

The seven principles

1) Plan ahead and prepare. 2) Travel and camp on durable surfaces. 3) Dispose of waste properly. 4) Leave what you find. 5) Minimise campfire impact. 6) Respect wildlife. 7) Be considerate of other users.

As a programme, Leave No Trace is designed to promote and inspire responsible outdoor recreation through education, research and partnerships. It depends more on attitude, awareness and ethics - a commitment to doing what you know to be the right thing regardless of who is there to witness you doing it - than on rules and regulations.

Route access and trail negotiation

Driving huskies privately or with clients falls under 'everyman's right' in Finnish law - we have the same access rights to trails and open huts as walkers, skiers and non-mechanised bikers - so we do not need permits to operate. Even so, we negotiate our route access with local people to impact traditional activities as little as possible, and in doing so we restrict our access rights greatly, since local reindeer herders worry that huskies and reindeer cannot coexist. We run a very limited number of clearly defined trails through the season - almost to the dogs' detriment - taking a long-term view to challenge that perception and, once trust grows, to negotiate wider trail access.

Product planning and research links

Whenever a new product is being considered, we assess its possible impacts on both the environment and the local community, judging by the scope and duration of the activity, the size of the group and the area covered. We encourage guides and clients to reduce their carbon footprint by using public rather than private transportation, and we provide pre-activity briefings and opportunities for feedback. We also live in an area where many species are yet to be properly recorded, so we have a long-term interest in developing an arm of CAPE Lapland for youth and research-based expeditions to extend baseline data resources for future generations.

What P.R.I.D.E. is

Mush With Pride was established in 1991 as an organization of mushers who were concerned about the care and treatment of sled dogs in their traditional and modern uses and public perceptions of mushing. P.R.I.D.E. stands for 'Providing Responsible Information on a Dog's Environment' and it supports the responsible care and humane treatment of all dogs. Sled dog care and equipment guidelines developed through P.R.I.D.E. and assessed through voluntary kennel inspections were the first of their kind. Kennels that exceed the recommended standards are awarded 'certification plus'.

What the certification shows

The certificate shows that our kennel is clean and in good condition; that the dogs appear healthy and happy; that the dog houses and living systems (cages and chains) are in good repair and suited to our dogs and the weather here; that the dogs have sufficient access to water; that the dog food is stored and prepared in a clean, appropriate place and is of good quality; that the pack has good social behaviour within it and towards humans; and that both pups and veterans are cared for equally, with deliberate and restricted breeding. This work helped earn us the GOLD award in the 'Best Animal Welfare Initiative' category of the 2015 World Responsible Tourism Awards.

Records and no-kill policy

Our written dog files - covering everything from behaviour to vaccination and medical records, running distances and basic obedience - are pretty much unsurpassed and a source of real pride. So too is the fact that our kennel is one of the very few in Scandinavia with a 'no-kill' policy for retirees and non-running dogs, so every dog here has the chance to live out its days enjoying a hard-earned rest.

Tim

Tim is our most senior member of staff, having worked at Hetta Huskies for over a decade. His strengths are building and bushcraft, and he has built most of the farm himself. Though his speciality is summer, Tim is a mainstay of the team year-round.

Eliel

Eliel was born in May 2010 and isn't quite fully functioning as a guide just yet. He has been driving sleighs since he was 2 and driving without someone controlling his speed from behind since he was c. 4. He took part in his first solo race (the Barnas Finnmarksloppet, the children's Finnmarksloppet) pulled by 4 dogs when he was just 5. He is perfectly capable of feeding the farm if we can persuade him to leave his Minecraft behind, and he sometimes translates between English and Finnish for visiting artists. Ask Eliel about Atlas, Tryfan and Unni (his favourite dogs) - and he may show you his treehouse if you are lucky!

Brand partnerships

As professional athletes, we stood out as brand ambassadors and providers of useful, honest feedback to the companies we partnered with long-term. We want our farm to stand out among dog-sled farms for the standards we set, so that dog food companies and equipment suppliers will also want to associate with us. With a captive audience of 10,000 European clients each year, we have a lot to offer. We continue to use gear that has proven trustworthy over time, so you will generally see our guides in Rab, Vaude or eVent clothing when working hard, and in Scott snowmobile jackets and boots when on the sleighs or snowmobiles. Please contact us about becoming a HETTA HUSKIES PARTNER: info at hettahuskies.com.

Local and national cooperation

We are one of the companies that works in cooperation with Metsahallitus (Finland's National Forestry Body), with a working agreement to follow sustainable principles in nature tourism when operating in the park. We also work with the Village to Village Project around the National Park, True Lapland, Visit Enontekio and Destination Lapland.

International and local tourism partners

We cooperate internationally with Aventure Arctique (France), Explore the North (Holland), Aventures Boreales (France), GNGL (France), Tui UK / Holland / Finland, Berg-Welt (Switzerland) and Fintouring (Germany). Locally we work with the Majatalo Hotel, Ounasloma Luxury Cabins, Jussantupa Hotel, Hotel Hetta, Hetan Kota and Hetan Lomakyla.

A holistic responsibility

Our clients require a service that is reliable, affordable and sustainable, which means caring for the environment, community interactions, feedback and performance reviews. Our staff need a stable, viable company underpinned by sound, open management and transparent, participatory development programmes. Local people need to rely on us to manage our dogs responsibly, prevent escapes that would jeopardise other creatures, and provide a long-term service. Last but not least, our dogs need a farm with a secure, long-term future, since they have no say in what happens to them. They deserve the best home, the most stimulating working life and the most relaxing retirement we can deliver.

WWF principles and benchmarking

From the early days, we have aligned our business against both the WWF's 10 Principles for Arctic Tourism and the Leave No Trace principles. We are constantly looking at the various standards and quality processes in existence and in development, and benchmarking for innovation against their platforms.

WWF's 10 Principles for Arctic Tourism (selected)

1. Make tourism and conservation compatible - encourage tourism planning that supports conservation efforts and cooperate with environmental organisations. 2. Support the preservation of wilderness and biodiversity - vast roadless wilderness is a unique characteristic of the Arctic and one of the main reasons tourists come. 3. Use natural resources in a sustainable way - undeveloped areas are a non-renewable resource; once developed it is impossible to return them to their original state. 4. Minimise consumption, waste and pollution. The principles continue across conservation, culture and local benefit.

Green Activities

Green Activities is a sustainability programme and certificate for outdoor activity operators, and the only sustainability certificate in the Nordic countries that includes criteria for animal welfare in tourism. A certified company must commit to raising the environmental awareness of its customers and staff and to reducing the environmental impact of its activities. Assessment is against 6 key criteria: certified companies must meet the 'imperative' criteria in each category and show increasing annual adherence to the 'guideline' criteria. At initial application, we already met 56 of the optimal guideline criteria.

The 10 principles of Sustainable Tourism Finland

The 10 principles of STF are built around cooperation, environmental sustainability, cultural sustainability, social sustainability, perseverance and locality, quality and safety, climate change, responsibility communication, financial stability and a commitment towards sustainability. They cover: 1) Fair cooperation; 2) Taking care of nature (including the welfare and dignified treatment of our animals); 3) Respect for cultural heritage; 4) Promotion of prosperity, human rights and equality; 5) Preferring local products, services and businesses; and further principles on quality, safety, climate and responsible communication.

How they met

They met for the first time on the Tibetan plateau on the start line of the 827km Raid Gauloises 2000, an international adventure race which Pasi's team won. Their paths kept crossing as they raced against each other around the globe over the next few years, swapping podium positions, until they finally joined forces. Married since January 4th 2003, they moved to Hetta in 2005 after searching Northern Lapland for a suitable place to call home.

Why Hetta

They wanted to be based in the wilderness somewhere where snow was guaranteed in the winter, but close enough to a good road network so that they could easily travel to collect modern-day essentials and visit family and friends. They also wanted to be as close as possible to the mountains of Sweden and Norway, since Finland is essentially flat and, although both love the Arctic landscapes, they are also mountain people. Hetta seemed the ideal location.

Family and community

Their son Eliel joined them in the spring of 2010. He hasn't proved much help on the farm yet, but he certainly isn't scared of dogs and his favourite toy is the quadbike, on which he will happily sit for hours. Both Anna and Pasi completed a training course to guide in the National Park, and Pasi in particular spends countless hours each month on the regional development of their small corner of the world.

Defined by what we do

We do not accept that merely completing a task or fulfilling an obligation is enough. Every activity is undertaken to the very best of our skills, with an aspiration for excellence. We care about our customers, our environment and our reputation, reflected in our 2015 GOLD award in the World Responsible Tourism Awards. You can find more about our Responsible Dog Care award and our ethical dog care principles elsewhere on this site.