Norway - The Laponian Area - Tysfjord, the fjord of Hellemobotn and Rago (extension)

The combination of magnificent scenery, ancient cultural landscape and a living Lule Sami settlement beside Hellemofjorden is unique. This is a core area for the Lule Sami settlement in Norway and has many important cultural monuments from earlier settlement phases, representing appreciable cultural-historical values. The Lule Sami population is a minority among the Norwegian Sami people. Historically there have been close relations across the country boarder as the Norwegian Lule Sami population origin from Sweden. The area consists of an extensive, unspoilt mountain massif with varied topography, ranging from the high peaks in the northwest to a rounded upland plateau landscape in the east. The mountainous area is broken up by a highly branched system of fjords and many large and small U-shaped valleys. The scenery is characterised by large, smoothly polished, sloping slabs of rock on the mountainsides, and a karstic landscape dotted with numerous caves. Whereas the mountainsides have little drift, the valleys contain huge thickness. The shortest distance on the Scandinavian peninsula between the fjord and the main watershed occurs in these woodlands in Hellemobotn and Mannfjordbotn that certainly deserve protection. The Rago national park, abuts Swedish national parks in the Laponian Area, and is dominated by a wild dramatic mountain landscape with deep ravines and great boulders.