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ELK

‘Leffe the moose man’ promises elk intimacy

Sweden’s wildlife can be hard to find at the best of times, but luckily, if it's an elk you want to see, a safari park near Stockholm promises to get you so close you might even get a smooch, Oliver Gee discovers.

Published: 6 September 2011 15:21 CEST
'Leffe the moose man' promises elk intimacy

Gårdsjö Älgpark lies just outside Heby, 100km north-west of Stockholm and the 16 hectare slice of Swedish wilderness plays host to a growing family of elk and thus feels able to offer visitors an elk guarantee.

The park is the brainchild of Leif Lindh, or self-styled "Leffe the Moose Man", and is the result of his devotion to raising the elk in their natural habitat, albeit an accessible and public-friendly version.

He takes great pride in the fact that these "Kings of the Forest" not only trust and follow him, but are comfortable enough to eat from his hand, be petted by visitors, and even bathe with him in a nearby lake if the weather is right.

“As far as I know I’m the only person in the world who swims with elks,” Lindh says with a grin, although when The Local dropped by, the water is a little too cold to see him in action.

While the business is now booming, with 130,000 visitors finding their way to Gårdsjö in 2010, the novel approach to accessible wildlife management wasn't an immediate success.

“People thought I was crazy when I told them about my dream to start an elk safari. My friends, my family – they all said I was mad," he explains.

When no-one turned up on the opening day in 2007, "Leffe" began to wonder whether the doubters were right.

“I was strong willed and a little stubborn. And I love these majestic creatures. I was sure people from around the world would enjoy seeing them as close-up as I do. Luckily they did.”

On the safari itself, Lindh drives a tractor with tailor-made trailer loads of camera-ready tourists attached, and provides a rather eccentric running commentary.

We are driven out into the fields, and soon come to a stop when a shout from the crowd turns everyone's attention toward an elk-shaped figure looming among the birch trees.

Gunde, the alpha male, emerges from the forest on the crest of a hill, seemingly posing for the cameras while surveying our group.

He has the enormous, fur-covered antlers of a four-year old, used to assert his impressive dominance among his family and the spectators alike.

Lindh coaxes him down towards the crowd with soothing words and a bucket of pellets, and slowly leads him all the way around the group, stopping regularly for photos and petting.

Indeed, during the safari, the entire group of elk fans has ample opportunity to touch and pet the animals, which remain calm in the presence of the visitors.

“It’s quite alright to touch their horns too,” offers Lindh.

“Try it – you can feel the blood pulsing through. Just like warm kiwi fruits, no?”

Gradually, more and more inquisitive elks emerge from the forest, drawn by the gentle calls of Leffe – the pied piper of this secluded elk kingdom.

The crowd delights in the latest additions to the 14 strong family, twins Lady and Luffsen (Lady and The Tramp) who are only 7 weeks old.

Lindh runs tours three times a day, Tuesday to Sunday, giving eager elk fans information in a quickfire, humour-filled round in both Swedish and English.

He even claims to be teaching the elk English so they can respond to the wide variety of visitors they receive from around the world.

Last year alone, people from 120 different countries made the trip to Heby to see the moose man at work and somewhat ironically, Lindh believes his ever-growing guest book may be due to Sweden's decreasing elk population.

“There are only 250,000 in Sweden right now, and only 10-12 countries in the world have them in the wild. Some people go to Africa to see elephants, some come to Europe to see elk. I’ve just made that easier to achieve,” he says.

Lindh's relationship with these usually wary and unpredictable creatures has been honed by employing a rather unorthodox up close and personal approach.

“I come out into the woods and sleep between the calves and their mother for the first few days of their lives. They get used to my voice, my smell," he explains.

"Over the next three weeks, we spend 15 hours a day with them. At the end of it, when I leave the woods, even my own wife doesn't recognise me – but at least the elks do!”

As "Leffe" Lindh puckers up and plants a kiss on Holge, the mother elk, it might be a safe bet to assume that no man has such a close understanding of these majestic beasts.

“She even kisses better than my wife,” he jokes. “Nobody tell her, though!”

Check out The Local's elk intimacy gallery here.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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