Iceland review - 2015, Page 97

ICELAND REVIEW 95
A guide to tours exploring
Iceland’s amazing highlands.
SPECIAL PROMOTION
VOYAGING THE
WILDERNESS
COMPILED BY
ALËX ELLIOTT,
ELLIOTT BRANDSMA,
MICA ALLAN AND
RACHEL MERCER.
White glacier, black desert, red
mountain, green moss, clear
river: that is the Icelandic
highlands, a world apart from the rest
of Iceland.
Under blue sky, or roaring storm, with
just a few walking paths here, and fewer
rocky roads there, you’ll discover pearls
like Landmannalaugar geothermal area,
Askja volcano and Kerlingarfjöll moun-
tains, not to forget the Kverkfjöll moun-
tain range in the northern part of mighty
Vatnajökull glacier.
In the northeastern highlands is
the country’s newest piece of land,
Holuhraun lava field, not within reach,
just south of Askja. If you follow the river
Jökulsá á Fjöllum north from Holuhraun,
you will see Selfoss and Dettifoss
waterfalls, right on the edge of the
highlands.
Iceland is sparsely populated with
the majority of towns and villages being
located on the coast. Apart from a few
farms in the northeast and lone hotels
in the south, the highlands are com-
pletely uninhabited.
Maybe, therefore, the highlands of
Iceland are the best place to find that
quietness you have been looking for,
and as an extra bonus, there’s the pic-
tures you take, the air you breathe, the
hard rain showers stalking your every
footstep, as well as the great blue
mountain, Bláhnjúkur. *
BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.