Piece from Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Throughout history, most gods were believed to enjoy not omnipotence but rather specific super-abilities such as the ability to design and create living beings; to transform their own bodies; to control the environment and the weather; to read minds and to communicate at a distance; to travel at very high speeds; and ofcourse to escape death and live indefinitely.  Humans are in the business of acquiring all these abilities, and then some. Certain traditional abilities that were considered divine for many millennia have today become so common place that we hardly think about them. The average person now moves and communicates across distances more than the Greek, Hindu or African gods of old.

From Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Samis...

a. Average temperature being -40°C around. At night, the temperature could fall 50°C in just 30 mts.

b. Snow all around; most part being soft snow which makes walking through the same very difficult. At some points,  the snow could be of chest height of the common man.

d. Walking without any load could burn as high as 1000 calories in a hour.

e. The land is full of rivers, tributaries and rivulets. Even the next step cannot be predicted whether it would land in water or not.

f. The only animal found in plenty is reindeer; they remain in herds of hundreds.

g. The stay is usually in snow houses called lavvu. This is based on a frame created through birch tree branches. It is conical in design with a place for fire at the centre.

h. There is always a fear of wold animals namely wolverine and lynx.

i. Lichens are consumed by locals and guests. This contains 80% carbohydrates and is the staple diet of reindeers and humans.

j. The other favourite food are Artic game birds like ptarmigan. These love birch twigs and simple hand made wire traps are placed to catch them.

k. The technique for making fire there has not changed for thousand of years. Birch bark is sheared into as thin strips and then struck through shapely rocks. Once these strips catch fire, leaves, twigs and wood ate placed on it.

So much for being a Sami, a tribe which has been the same, seen the same environment and lived the same life for the past 10000 years. To visit them you require either Swedish or Finnish visa.

Anyone interested to say hello to them?