Text and pictures: Silja Lavonen
In the northern corner of Lake Kitka sits a red house and a cheerfully greeting pack of huskies.
Martijn, a Dutchman known simply as Saukko, and his wife Krista welcome us warmly and lead us to the dogs in the kennel. Greeting all five dogs, it quickly becomes clear that Saukko has dedicated his life to these high-energy sled dogs. Here, a pack is slowly growing — one he dreams of one day taking on carefully tailored sledding trips into the nature of Kuusamo.
But let’s rewind a bit: how did a Dutchman end up in the northern reach of Kuusamo raising his own sled dog team?
We go back to 2014. Saukko was working in the printing industry in Rotterdam and longed for a complete change of life. He’d heard about an international wilderness guide school in Finland, and once the idea took hold, the decision didn’t take long. Other Nordic countries were already familiar to him, and Saukko says, “Finland was the dark horse among the options.”
The move to Finland paid off: in his own words, Saukko fell head over heels in love with his studies.
“For a year we studied guiding in nature, but also local culture and how to run a business here.”
The path after graduation wasn’t a straight line to Kuusamo – Saukko says he hopped around wherever work took him.
“After school I worked in Saariselkä, then for a while in Sweden, and briefly in Belgium.”
But the longing for Finland kept growing. And the skills and knowledge gained at the guide school – understanding Finnish nature, customs and culture – were best suited for working in the north, so it didn’t feel sensible to head somewhere like Spain or Italy as a guide.
Through work contacts he heard of Erä-Susi, a company in Kuusamo known for its winter husky safaris.
“First I was like, okey, but I need to go to Lapland, Lapland is the holy grail, but I said to myself, let’s just give it a try.”
If the guide school had made him feel he was on the right path, the huskies fully stole his heart.
”The minute I walked in, I knew it. This is my world.”
That feeling hasn’t changed, and now a new winter season is beginning with familiar dogs.
”This really is what I love to do. Work with the people and animals in nature in circumstances that can be a little bit extreme sometimes. I enjoy the cold.”
The more Saukko learned about the region and its unique features, the more he began to appreciate it.
”There are so many national parks nearby, it is perfect. And they all (Salla, Riisitunturi, Hossa and Oulanka) have their own personality.”
Krista entered the picture a little later. The couple met in southern Finland while Saukko was giving a lecture at his former school. Their connection came easily, and it soon became clear to Krista that she would move to Kuusamo and give life in the north a real chance.
Finding a bigger, shared home wasn’t simple. After a long search, the right place appeared in the northern corner of Lake Kitka.
Both are especially happy about the location, which offers long canoe trips and endless snowy trails right from their doorstep.
Saukko and Krista approach life in an old house – and in a remote northern corner – with a very practical mindset.
”Sometimes it’s not easy, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We have this joke, Krista and me. We say that ‘we chose this’”.
Saukko says he deeply appreciates the local attitude and the way people live according to the seasons. Nothing is taken for granted – people are ready to work, and always ready to help a neighbor in need. Practical work and a hands-on lifestyle feel natural to him.
“For example, our house is heated by wood and if we don’t do anything, then the house is cold. So you need to prepare all of that, but that’s also something I like a lot over here.”
Adjusting life to the changing seasons has been the biggest shift for him after moving from the Netherlands to Finland.
“I really do like the differences between the seasons. It’s so radical, also the amount of light for example. And just those shifts in seasons… The dark days now then comes to snow, then comes beautiful light, and then a little bit more sunshine.”
The rhythm of life has also been very different from the Netherlands.
“In Netherlands, people live in the sixth gear as fast as possible. It’s a way of life there, but over here it is totally different.”
Saukko advises newcomers to give things time – whether it’s adjusting to the region or waiting for a plumber.
Saukko, once living in hectic Rotterdam, and Krista, who moved from Helsinki, both felt a deep pull toward the nature of the north and greatly value the peace it offers.
When she moved to Kuusamo, Krista was open to many kinds of work, but her desire to be more in nature led her to study wilderness guiding at KSAK. Now both have accumulated broad experience guiding in the north.
Krista runs her own company, Hidden Adventures, while Saukko works through his Saukko Outdoor Experience business. They collaborate closely with other local entrepreneurs, and they are developing new experience services based on each of their personal passions.
Krista has also used Naturpolis’ business services in founding and developing her company.
As small operators, they place great value on cooperation with other local businesses. Out of this need — and their passion to offer high-quality, responsible nature experiences — the Slow Adventures Society community was born.
Through this community, they hope to create more diverse services together with local entrepreneurs, in a way that respects the surrounding nature and community.
“We might be a bit idealistic, and it’s not always the easiest path, but we want to do things well,” Krista says.
Living remotely, Krista and Saukko deeply appreciate the community around them: helpful neighbors, friends and fellow entrepreneurs from the Koillismaa region. People they can ask for help at any time – and who will show up without question.
“And we do the same for them. But then again you don’t need to sit at each other’s coffee table every evening. I’ve become very finish that way, I like my privacy”, Saukko laughs.
He has settled into Koillismaa so well that when he visits the Netherlands, he no longer feels like he’s going home – just visiting.
”It’s quite funny that it took some people a little while to realise like this is now your home. I travel every now and then to Netherlands and they say ‘oh, you go home’, and I say no, this is my home.”
