Photo: Tommy Norum
Up in the air – a higher sense of self Imagine yourself floating in the air, engulfed by a thriving forest canopy and surrounded by wild animals. The sound of nature awakens a part of you that you thought you’d lost. This is a place where fairytales come to life. This is Treetop Ekne. By Andri Papanicolas
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Photos: Katrine Ingebrigtsen
In a 100-year-old forest in Trøndelag, Norway, is a village unlike any other. It is a treetop village that consists of various cabins, a tipi and hover-tents. The camp has been 14 years in the making and is today visited by people from all around the world. What makes it so unique is that the married couple Katrine Ingebrigtsen and Johannes Skilbrigt have built the village around nature, instead of altering or invading it. “A fire, candle lights and the forest gives you peace of mind. It is a special kind of magic,” Katrine says. The passionate founders of Treetop Ekne have spent many years travelling to the 38 |
Issue 149
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December 2022
far corners of the world to learn about new cultures and different ways of life. “On my travels, the definition of a good place always included a hammock. I love the feeling of hanging up in the air,” she
says. The couple decided to bring that feeling back to Norway, and started to rent out hover-tents in the old forest. This was the beginning of the treetop village in Ekne. Find the place for you A hover-tent is a tent that is secured by ropes and suspended a couple of metres up in the air. The ropes are tight and are normally attached to three trees, which makes a triangle shape. There is a hatch on the floor with a ladder to the ground. At Treetop Ekne, you can rent a hover-tent and listen to the sounds of nature with a bird’s-eye-view over the forest. You might hear a deer early in the morning, or see the furry squirrels getting on with their day. Johannes and Katrine explain that children find it magical and liberating to stay at the treetop village. “Kids love to be here. They run around and play with sticks all day,” Johannes says.