Chasing the Northern Lights in Iceland…

Seeing the Northern Lights was one of the main things I wanted to do when I visited Iceland in January, so when Iceland Travel invited Matt and I on a Northern Lights trip we jumped at the opportunity! This wasn’t just any old Northern Lights trip either; it was a Super Jeep Tour…

I had been keeping an eye on the Aurora forecast and it was looking good, the Icelandic Met Office is brilliant for checking on the upcoming Northern Lights action. All ready to go, wearing thermal layers and most of my clothes I had packed in preparation for the cold night, we were picked up promptly at 8pm outside our accommodation in the centre of Reykjavík by our 4×4 driver. The super jeep was a very cool looking white Land Rover pimped up with the biggest wheels I have ever seen! In fact I struggled to clamber up into the seat with my little legs! As we drove out of the city, busy bright roads turned into snowy tracks and darkness, we were joined by seven other super jeeps and continued in convoy. Making our way through deep snow I began to get excited. One of the benefits of going in a super jeep, apart from being immensely fun is that the vehicles can get to places that coaches and cars can not reach, the powerful Land Rovers could plough through massive snow drifts with ease, it felt like a real adventure! The snow-covered forest tracks eventually turned into a clearing; we pulled up and jumped out. I looked up and there were the Northern Lights, dancing in the night sky. I watched in silence as the vibrant greens constantly changed shape swirling and gliding through the darkness. As well as taking photos of these beauties I was conscious of just taking it all in, after all it’s not everyday you get to see the Aurora Borealis if you live in the UK. For information on capturing the lights on camera take a look at my blog: Northern Lights photography tips. After a good hour at this spot the lights started to fade and I could no longer feel my feet! So it was back in the jeeps to chase the lights once more and onto the next location. We drove higher up into the mountains, it felt a lot chillier here as I jumped out and scanned the sky. The lights were still visible but not as bright as they had been, it was really interesting here to see what the camera could pick up that the eye missed, the lights were much more apparent viewing them on the back of the camera but of course still great to witness. Our guides whipped out some hot chocolate to keep warm and we even had the option to add vodka to it, a proper winter warmer! Loosing the feeling in my hands and feet again I reluctantly retreated to the warmth of the 4×4 to warm up. Not long after that it was time to make our way back to Reykjavík, snow drifts blocked the road home, after some clever manoeuvres the super jeeps ploughed on through and back onto the road, we even got air at one point! It was an exhilarating experience; one that I definitely won’t forget and to top it off we even saw the Northern Lights again from the roof terrace of our hostel. Seeing them over the city was great and the colours of the lights even changed to purples, it was the perfect end to a perfect evening and something to tick off my bucket list!