Lycksele: Sweden's northernmost zoo

In remote southern Swedish Lapland, Lycksele hosts the northernmost zoo in the country, entirely dedicated to Nordic fauna.

A car is very helpful for reaching the zoo and the surrounding forest area.

The Zoo of Lycksele, specialized exclusively in Scandinavian and Arctic fauna, houses brown bears, lynxes, and moose in spacious enclosures that faithfully recreate natural habitat.

A few minutes away, the vast Umeälven River, which runs through the entire city, offers fishing and canoeing routes among the dense forests of southern Lapland.

Proceeding to the remote interior, one encounters Sami communities that still practice traditional reindeer herding throughout the entire region.

As evening approaches, local restaurants serve fresh moose and reindeer meat according to the culinary tradition of southern Swedish Lapland.

The Lycksele Zoo, founded in 1962, remains the northernmost zoo of all Sweden and one of the few in the world specialised exclusively in Scandinavian arctic and subarctic fauna.

Lycksele, sometimes nicknamed the 'gateway to Laponia' for its position of border between southern Sweden and the vast northern territories, remains an important and strategic passage point towards the distant north.