Wednesday 30 November 2016

Travel: Chasing the Northern Lights

We came to Iceland with a five day forecast of rain, and I had already heard reports of fading auroras and throngs of tourists.

You can choose to either find the Northern Lights yourself or take a tour - we opted for a small personalized tour with Discover Iceland as neither mum and I were very confident about driving on icy roads in winter, and we would rather leave it to the professionals!

When we looked at the aurora forecast, it suggested we would be unlikely to see much - but our guide Victory John was optimistic. 

Discover Iceland picked us up in a super jeep and we ended up driving about thirty minutes just outside Reykjavik to a nearby hill. It was almost complete darkness, and almost a bit scary as we off-roaded up the hill, bouncing through some very steep areas, but eventually we stopped at the top and John whipped out his SLR.

So chasing the lights usually involves the guide using a DSLR and taking photos of the surrounding sky, because sometimes the camera is able to pick up the waves that we aren't able to with the naked eye. Once he managed to pick up some green, we drove up towards the direction of the activity.

We were freezing in subsero weather, and we initially had to move spots as John caught a glimpse of green. We waited for about half an hour, and we were just going back into the jeep to find another spot, but then John caught a glimpse of something and told us to get back out.

Not much later, we were lucky to be treated fo a spectacular display of green hues and rhe dancing Aurora, and the dancing lights went on for a good twenty minutes! It was amazing, something really magical - to see the lights dance is truly a wonder of nature, and one that really is indescribable.

We were super lucky, and I'm super thankful we managed to catch a display - like anything else to do with nature, it really is a matter of luck whether you'll be able to see one or not!

Thanks Victory John, and Discover Iceland - great tour, and fantastic service! Would definitely recommend them for smaller, more personalized tours. :)

1 comment:

  1. Great post. Thanks for sharing northern lights chasing tips. It will be so much useful in my Northern lights photo tour.

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