Grönåsen's Moose-Park

Having lived in London for several years I have finally started to appreciate many of the things that I couldn't get away from quickly enough when I lived with my parents in the south of Sweden. If anybody had said to me when I was 18 that I would (out of my own free will) go to a moose park in Kosta I would have laughed them straight in the face - no way!

However, things change and when I brought bf home to visit a few weeks ago ...
...form of a visit to a moose park that they said had become a big tourist attraction in the last few years. Him being English he had never seen a moose and went moose-spotting in the forest every time we went to visit with no luck whatsoever. Now, there are plenty of them around but as my mum rightly pointed out - they won't exactly come running towards you if you walk around talking as they are generally shy animals.

For anybody that ... more

Having lived in London for several years I have finally started to appreciate many of the things that I couldn't get away from quickly enough when I lived with my parents in the south of Sweden. If anybody had said to me when I was 18 that I would (out of my own free will) go to a moose park in Kosta I would have laughed them straight in the face - no way!

However, things change and when I brought bf home to visit a few weeks ago my parents had organised a surprise for him in the form of a visit to a moose park that they said had become a big tourist attraction in the last few years. Him being English he had never seen a moose and went moose-spotting in the forest every time we went to visit with no luck whatsoever. Now, there are plenty of them around but as my mum rightly pointed out - they won't exactly come running towards you if you walk around talking as they are generally shy animals.

For anybody that would like some background on the 'the king of the forest' as they are known in Sweden (well not really they are known as Skogens Konung, but I figured most of you wouldn't understand that so I translated it for you - aren't I nice to you people!) here is a little of what I know or learnt at the moose park.

Moose (or elk) can be found in Canada and northern parts of the US and they also appear in the northern parts of Europe and Asia. It is estimated there are about 2 million moose in the world with the highest number in Canada, Russia, The US and Sweden. In Sweden there are approximately 300 000 moose and during the annual moose hunt around 100 000 of them are shot (the moose hunt lasts for about 2 months during the autumn every year). In a country of about 9 million people 270 000 are somehow involved in the hunt and it is a major industry within the country. Personally I prefer to see them alive and well but most of my relatives are very much into the hunt - it is what I would call an obsession and whoever dares do anything to interrupt the hunt will not be very popular to say the least.

The moose itself is the largest animal within the deer family. They can reach heights of over 2 metres and weigh up to 800 kilos. They live between 15 - 25 years (if they can manage to escape the hunters each year that is). The heat period occurs between September and October and only lasts for 10-12 hours. The cow is pregnant for 8 months and usually gives birth to 2 calves. It generally only takes a couple of hours for the calves to be able to stand up and follow their mother. This is usually the period where you would do well not to approach the cow as, even though they are normally not aggressive animals, the cow might attack if she sees you as a threat to her calves. Having a 2 meter tall, 500 kilo heavy animal chasing you through the forest is probably not the greatest experience so definitely one to be avoided.

Well, that's just some background information but if anybody is interested in more information about these animals just do a search on the internet. As I did one I found hundreds if not thousands of sites for moose lovers, all full of information about the animals, the hunt and even discussion forums! Hm - takes all sorts, I guess…

Now, let's get back to the park! We went there right at the end of the season on a Saturday morning and there were only 2 cars in the parking lot, one with Danish number plates and the other one with German ones. This is not a big surprise as the moose industry has become a huge tourist attraction in the south of Sweden - road signs are stolen and people buy jewellery made out of moose poo! It's all very strange to me but if that's what people want then who am I to argue.

You have to go through the shop to pay for your ticket and to be able to get through to the actual park. The shop is massive and completely full of moose related products, but more about that later. We paid about 20 SKR each (about £1.50) and walked through the doors too the 'Moose Walk'. At first you walk past some other animals, they have the most beautiful white doves for example. There are also goats (they stink but are very cute), pigs (same goes for them) and lots of different hens.

As soon as we got to the beginning of the "moose safari" we found one half of the moose couple that have become famous around Sweden. The couple is named after the Swedish king and queen - Carl Gustav and Silvia (king of the forest -geddit?) Silvia and her 2 calves were in a huge field with lots of trees and a feeding tray where people would tend to stand to look at them. Apparently they are kept here day time during the season and at night they also have access to the other parts of the park. The actual walk itself is 1300 meter long and winds around a fenced in part of the forest where the moose are kept. It's a gravel path but it's very wide and easy to walk and even the most unfit would probably be able to walk it as it's not very far. You could also quite easily walk it with a pram or a wheelchair, I believe. There are no seats anywhere that I could see except if you wish to climb up one of the look out towers (there are two).

After having seen our first moose so close up we were eager to see the king himself and kept our eyes open as we walked along next to the fence. We climbed one of the look out towers but saw absolutely nothing as the forest is very thick and if a moose doesn't want to be seen it won't be - I really don't know how they do it as they are absolutely massive animals.

When we were about half way through we saw the first moose. It was lying down a few metres from the fence and didn't seem to care much about us at all. Bf was very excited by this stage and started calling for it. Strangely enough he must not have been the first mad Englishman this particular moose had met and the last one must have brought lots of lovely apples for it as it stood up on its looooong, skinny legs and walked up to the fence. How these super skinny legs can manage to carry an animal of that size I shall never be able to comprehend! Poor thing, he didn't get much attention, nor any apples as my dad, who'd walked ahead, called to say that Carl Gustav was over there. As he is the daddy of all moose (well, not literally but he's huge and famous) we abandoned the first moose and ran over there. This moose was massive (I can't quite describe how big they really are when you are up close but I can see why so many people die or get very seriously injured in car accidents involving them) and was lying about two metres from the fence chewing some moss from the floor. Something I have noticed before is that they often don't seem to like to stand up to eat; they either lie down or lie down on their front knees. Now, is this because they can't reach the ground otherwise or are they just lazy? I don't know and the mystery remains as I forgot to ask when I got back to the shop…

After having stared at Carl Gustav for 10 minutes (also making funny noises and my dad - evil man - throwing a twig at him to make him stand up) we continued our walk (Carl Gustav still laid there chewing, completely ignoring us). We eventually came back to the start and now Silvia and the calves were standing by the feeding tray so we got to walk up and pat the calves on their super furry heads. Now I have seen hairy ears in my life but this was something else! They were absolutely adorable and weren't frightened of us at all - until my dad spat his snus (tobacco) out. Apparently they did NOT like this noise at all and jumped off - and this is when we could see that there may well be some truth in them being able to reach speeds of 50 km/h.

To get out you have to walk back through the shop, which is an old farm house I think. It now consists of 3 rooms mainly selling moose related items such as T-shirts, key rings and about a million other things (no moose poo jewellery that I could see though). I had to buy myself and bf a pair of moose socks of course and they were not too expensive, so anybody could afford a souvenir from here (whether you'd want one is a different story!). As we came out of the shop I noticed that they also had a couple of cottages for rent. These are for hire all year round and of different sizes and price ranges. There is also a big space for barbeques which looks ideal for bigger parties. I can imagine that this gets very busy in the summer but when we were there nobody was using it. You have to buy food for barbequing in the moose shop and bizarrely they sell moose hot dogs!

In spite of the hot dog incident it seems the moose are very well looked after. They are never cooped up but have their own territory which certainly seems big enough as it's in the middle of the forest. They can quite easily hide from prying eyes and it's entirely their decision if they come up to the fence or if they want to sit in the middle of the forest and sulk.

I had a fantastic day out at the moose park and bf loved it too. It is such a strange idea but so much fun. It took us about an hour to get around the whole place but you could spend a lot longer here if you wanted to. I would recommend this to anybody who enjoys wildlife parks etc. This is basically the same but on a smaller scale and with not quite as much wildlife! It would be very suitable for families, and anybody who'd like to see this majestic animal in its natural(ish) habitat. If you are ever in the south of Sweden, it is well worth visiting - it's open between Easter and Halloween from 10 am until about 6 in the summer, although this varies. And don't worry about your dodgy Swedish either - everything, from the brochures to the signposts are in Swedish, English, German and Dutch.

 

...less