Since 2022, husband and wife team Jonas Gejke and Naila Sher have owned and run Aurora Safaris, based in the Råne River valley of Swedish Lapland. Attracting guests from across the world to Aurora Safari Camp, The Outpost Lodge and The Floating Safari Camp, a stay with Aurora Safaris is a chance to step out of the ordinary and try something both authentically Swedish and uniquely international.
Our journey
Jonas was born in Sweden but lived for many years in Kenya, where he met Naila in 2005. Since then they’ve worked together running safari camps, a ballooning company, a climbing company and a restaurant business. They decided to move to Swedish Lapland with their family in 2018, making Gunnarsbyn their home. The combination of Naila’s Kenyan hospitality and Jonas’ extensive knowledge of safari operations, Swedish cooking and hosting have made them the perfect combination for this creative endeavour.
Inspiration
Aurora Safari Camp was established in 2013 as the world’s first Arctic winter “glamping” experience, taking inspiration from smaller, hidden bush-camp models in Kenya and adjusting it for the unpredictable weather, climate and conditions in Northern Sweden.
In 2022 Jonas and Naila fully remodelled the camp, moving it to a new location up the Råne River and creating a secluded hideaway that provides all the home comforts, while being submerged into the Arctic wilderness with an interrupted view of the night sky. Aurora Safari Camp now has five fully furnished and heated woodland cabins: three Tipi Cabins and two Lapland Cones, reached by walkways that lead to a spacious central dining cabin, along with our Forest Sauna and Sauna in the Ice. From Aurora Safari Camp, The Floating Safari Camp and The Outpost Lodge, Aurora Safaris offers memorable stays and experiences across the seasons.
The Aurora Safaris ethos places guests at the centre, and pays great attention to individual preferences to ensure that everyone has a comfortable and memorable stay. It’s important that all guests feel at home from the moment they arrive, through a personal approach to hosting. Time and again this is what keeps guests coming back and sending their friends to experience the same. Making new connections from across the globe and reuniting with old faces has been the driving force of Aurora Safaris since the beginning.