What an honour

On Monday I shared an article regarding modern disconnection with Nature.

Well this morning I was extremely privileged to witness the most magnificent sight. You may well have already seen the photo I posted on Instagram.

On my first Dog Adventure we were cresting a hill and about to get to a fantastic view.

Suddenly to my right side I felt a presence. Turning around, that was when I saw a mother moose and her baby staring back at us.

They can’t have been more than 30 metres away. By now the dogs had also located them and stood frozen still in silence.

The sunshine was gloriously illuminating both mother and baby as we looked on in awe.

I kept eye contact with the mother moose and slowly raised one hand and explained calmly to her in English (clearly a multilingual moose) that we meant no harm and that we would not come any closer.

We stood there for 30 seconds and then calmly moved on as both mother and baby watched our departure.

My planned adventure route now needed to be changed so as not to further encroach on their area.

As a parent myself I fully understood that this mother was just assessing a potential danger to her offspring, and once reassured, that she would not need to take any action.

As we looped down into the valley below I kept checking over my shoulder just to ensure that they were not following us. Once down on the valley floor we found a new path and minutes later I could see both mother and baby still high up above us looking over our adventure.

Throughout our encounter the dogs were unbelievably calm and not once barked nor jumped forwards. It seemed that human, dog and moose had a mutual respect for everyone’s right to use Oslomarka.

What a fantastic experience to start any day and I felt truly honoured.