NORDIC NATURE
Following serie of photographs was taken in south-west Norway and shows nature of Hardangerfjord.
With a length of 179 km, the Hardangerfjord in the county of Hordaland in Norway is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway. The surrounding district is called Hardanger.
The Hardangerfjord starts at the Atlantic Ocean just south of Bergen (SW Norway). Here the fjord penetrates in a north easterly direction until it meets the grand mountain plateau of Hardangervidda. The longest branch of the Hardangerfjord is Sørfjorden which cuts south about 50 km from the main fjord. Its maximum depth is more than 800 m just outside Norheimsund in the middle of the fjord.
About 10,000 years ago the Scandinavian land mass started to rise up as enormous glacial ice started to melt. The lower parts of the valleys became flooded, and so created what we today know as the Hardangerfjord. The valley was originally not only made through glacial erosion but by the high pressure melting water which pushed its way beneath the ice. Norway's third largest glacier is found on the Folgefonn peninsula, a part of the Hardangerfjord. With its three parts, the Folgefonn glacier covers an area of 220 km2, and is an area which became protected as a national park.
The history of the fjord goes far beyond its Viking history, back to the time of hunters on the surrounding mountains, and later on, farming along this fertile area which today is considered the fruit orchard of Norway. Later the fjord became the birthplace for a large tourism influx to Norway. Today the Hardangerfjord is witness to a renaissance in tourism and new infrastructure for travellers has once again become an industry for the local communities along the fjord. One of the most visited touristic attractions is Trolltunga (Troll´s tongue). It is a piece of rock hanging horizontally out of a mountain about 700 metres above the north side of the lake Ringedalsvatnet in the municipality of Odda in Hordaland county, Norway.
The fjord has good conditions for fish farming. Fish farms yearly produce more than 40.000 tons of salmon and rainbow trout and makes the Hardangerfjord one of four major fish farming regions in the world.Hardangerfjord's melt-water is also bottled at source to form the product Isklar, sold worldwide.
