Patoniva River, Oulanka National Park Live Cam

The Patoniva runs through spruce forest in Oulanka National Park, near Kuusamo in the north-eastern corner of Finland. The camera is set low beside a rapid on the river.

Meltwater in May and early June turns these rapids brown and doubles their volume; by late summer the same drop is a quarter of the size. The park is crossed by the Karhunkierros, an eighty-kilometre walking route with suspension bridges over the gorges.

Lime in the bedrock supports plants that have no business this far north, among them the calypso orchid the park uses as its emblem. Oulanka reaches the border and continues on the other side as Paanajärvi National Park.