Only 3% of Norway is arable. Some 27% remains forested, though acid rain is affecting forests thanks to pollutants pumped into the atmosphere by Russia, Germany and the UK. Fauna includes reindeer, wolves, musk oxen and lemmings. Many of Norway’s 30,000 Lapps live a traditional nomadic life herding reindeer in the far north. The paucity of productive farmland has focused Norwegian attention on the sea, and commercial fishing plays an important role both in the economy and the social fabric of the nation. Norway resumed commercial whaling of minke whales in 1993 in defiance of an international whaling ban, and in early 2001 announced that it was set to lift a ban on exports of the magnificent mammal’s blubber.

Norway occupies the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula and shares borders with Sweden, Finland and Russia. Shaped like the rind on the bacon rasher of Scandinavia, Norway has a long coastline pierced by fjords and a mountainous interior that is blanketed by some of Europe’s largest glaciers. Over 500 sq km (193 sq mi) of Norway lies north of the Arctic Circle, but the country’s western coast usually remains ice free year-round thanks to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

Norway’s coastal areas have a surprisingly temperate climate thanks to the Gulf Stream, especially in the summer months. The mountainous inland regions experience more extreme ranges of temperatures, and the northern highlands suffer Arctic conditions. The country is at its best and brightest from May to September, and at its worst between November and March when average temperatures are below freezing. Midnight-sun days, when the sun never drops below the horizon, extend from 13 May to 29 July at Nordkapp in the far north, and from 28 May to 14 July in the Lofoten islands. Even southern Norway has daylight from 4 am to 11 pm in midsummer. On the other hand, the sun does not rise in the north from the end of November to the end of January, which is fine if you’re angst-ridden, bed-ridden or vampiric.