Safaris

If you are a safari entrepreneur and use state-owned land in your operations, you must agree with Metsähallitus in advance on your safari operations and the snowmobile tracks to be used in them.

The use of both Metsähallitus permit tracks and other tracks available to entrepreneurs must be agreed upon in advance. Metsähallitus permit tracks in Lapland and Eastern Finland can be found on the Snowmobile routes and tracks page.

The company needs the following for safari operations

A safari consent or track agreement with Metsähallitus on the use of a certain track.
A safari-specific off-road permit, which you can obtain by submitting a safari notification in the Eräluvat.fi service.

Apply for safari consent with the online form (webropolsurveys.com). You can also apply by submitting a free-form application to maastoliikenneluvat@metsa.fi or kirjaamo@metsa.fi.

€80 + VAT 25.5% on Metsähallitus snowmobile tracks subject to a fee
€160 + VAT 25.5% on Metsähallitus general snowmobile tracks subject to a fee and also on separately agreed company tracks

Creating a user account for safari notifications

Once consent has been granted, create a user account for the company with the email address you want to use to submit safari notifications. You can create an account here.

A verification code will be sent to the given email address. Enter the code in the requested location. You can then save your password and enter your basic information.
Once this is done, send the email address you want linked to your company account to maastoliikenneluvat@metsa.fi. Metsähallitus will make the link in its system. Wait for confirmation by email - only then can you log in to the Business Portal and submit safari notifications.

Please note that multiple email addresses can be linked to your company account to submit safari notifications. A private person may have two different user accounts in the Eräluvat.fi system: one with their own email address for fishing permits, for example, and the other with the company’s email address for safari notifications.

Safari-specific off-road traffic permit with a safari notification

A notification for each safari must be made before its start in the Eräluvat.fi Business Portal. You can submit safari notifications, for example, one week in advance.

A safari-specific off-road traffic permit covers tracks that have been agreed upon with Metsähallitus.

Safari-specific off-road permit prices

The price of a safari-specific off-road permit depends on the number of vehicles to be used (total vehicles for guides and customers):

1-3 vehicles: €10/day (VAT 0%)
4-6 vehicles: €25/day (VAT 0%)
7 or more vehicles: €40/day (VAT 0%)

Payment of safari permits

Based on the notifications, Metsähallitus will invoice the completed safaris at the end of the safari season.

An off-road traffic permit is also required for Metsähallitus contract tracks

Even if a company has an agreement with Metsähallitus on the use of a certain track for safari operations, a safari notification must always be submitted for each safari. In older agreements, there is often no such requirement. In this case, safari-specific notifications are not required as long as the contract is valid.

Cases in which no off-road traffic permit is required

State-owned lands contain many official snowmobile routes and snowmobile tracks maintained by municipalities and associations. A company does not need to sign an agreement with Metsähallitus for its operations or acquire a Metsähallitus off-road permit if it is using official snowmobile routes or tracks maintained by municipalities/associations.

Use of Metsähallitus hiking structures in business operations

If a company uses Metsähallitus hiking structures, such as day huts, wilderness huts for daytime use, campfire sites, dry toilets, marked trails or other similar structures in its business operations, the company must conclude an agreement on tourism cooperation and rights of use with Parks & Wildlife Finland.

The price of the cooperation agreement consists of a basic fee (one-time fee) and an annual fee according to the use of the hiking structures. Read more on cooperation agreements with nature tourism business on the metsa.fi website.