Iceland review - 2019, Síða 95

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Iceland Review
the animals would strengthen Icelandic agriculture,
with plans for a Sami family to be imported to teach
Icelanders the ways of their semi-nomadic reindeer
herding lifestyle.
This never came to be, so the reindeer have roamed
wild since they first arrived. The first three attempts
to bring reindeer to Vestmannaeyjar, Hafnarfjörður,
and Eyjafjörður, respectively, mostly failed. A com-
bination of harsh winters, a limited food supply,
along with overgrazing brought them down every
time. It wasn’t until the fourth attempt that they
succeeded. Today, reindeer only live in one area, East
Iceland, the final group, 30 cows and 5 bulls, landed
in Vopnafjörður in 1787 and flourished. However, once
the reindeer were settled, the enthusiasm had died
down and Icelanders never followed through on their
plans to utilise the immigrant species in an organised
manner.
The reindeer have been counted each year since
1940 and their numbers are at an all-time high: over
7,000 animals in the summertime. They see quite
badly, having evolved over generations to prioritise UV
light, which allows them to spot predators and nour-
ishment easily in the tundras of the world. With no
natural predators in Iceland, they don’t need to worry
about spotting them. Other than humans, of course.
Reindeer country
It’s late August, and in East Iceland, reindeer are
everywhere, it seems. It’s the middle of hunting
season, and it shows. For one thing, the first thing
that greets visitors at Egilsstaðir airport is reindeer
antlers mounted on the wall. If you know where to
look, you’ll see droves of reindeer hunters coming
down from the highlands above the fjords. By the
Reyðarfjörður harbour, we chance upon two hunt-
ers lowering antlers into the sea. They tell us they’ll
retrieve them in three months’ time, when sea fleas
will have cleaned the skin and fur off, leaving only the
white horns. Five minutes later, we meet a guide who
dropped a whole reindeer from a cart somewhere
on the road in Mjóifjörður. “It’s the first time this
has happened in my 20 years as a reindeer guide.”
Apparently, a Nepalese photographer jumped off the
cart take a photo of a rainbow, opening a hinge on the
cart in the process and forgot to close it again. The
fallen beast was finally brought to Eskifjörður where
we witnessed the removal of the skin and preparation
for slaughtering. Outside the small hut are 30 hinds
and a few dozen horns, some of them bobbing gently
in the water, getting the sea flea treatment. The men
unload the reindeer quickly and surely before getting
to work. This isn’t the first reindeer these hands
“I would have shot the driver,” Siggi says
afterwards before releasing a belly laugh.
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