Orbis in English

Orbis In English

The individual registration is now open until end of February!

Early bird fees apply in December and January. The international group registration will open soon.

Tervetuloa – that is “welcome” in Finnish!

We are thrilled that you are interested in coming to our regional scout camp Orbis2025!

About the camp

  • The camp will be held in July 2025, from 10th to 16th (Thursday to Wednesday) 
  • There will be possibilities to showcase your country and culture to the camp participants 
  • The organizer is Pohjanmaan Partiolaiset ry, the regional scout body in Bothnia (mid-Northern Finland).
  • The expected number of participants is 2000

Experience Orbis the Finnish way!

  • There will be varied daily program in the forest, on big lake Oulujärvi etc 
  • Your group will be integrated with 1 or more local Finnish troops.
  • Everyone speaks reasonable English.  
  • Everyone pitches in! All rovers and adults are assigned a volunteer position, either as group leaders or in the camp organization.  
  • Explorers will split their time between their programmed activities and a volunteer position. 

About daily life at Orbis2025 

  • You will live 6 nights in a tent with other scouts. 
  • You will be eating out of a camp kitchen with your own plates etc. Camp kitchen can cater for most dietary restrictions if properly informed beforehand. 
  • There will be showers and saunas available 
  • There will be portable toilets that get cleaned daily 

Pictures: Mari Lehtisalo, Eeva Helle and Veera Melvasalo / Suomen Partiolaiset, Juha Vainio / Lounais-Suomen Partiopiiri

Health and safety 

  • Each camp unit (home base for 60 to 120 scouts) will have a comprehensive first aid kit and a designated adult volunteer for first aid   
  • The camp will have a central ”hospital” with trained nurses in attendance 
  • There will be teams supporting the wellbeing (including mental health) of both the participants and volunteers 
  • Only participants and invited guests will have access to the campsite. This will be monitored by designated volunteers 
  • The camp has zero tolerance for intoxicants such as alcohol or drugs. Smoking is discouraged and only permitted to adults. 

How to get there?

Exact location is Säräisniemi in Vaala, Finland (latitude 64.45, longitude 26.7833 ). It is ca. 100 km from Oulu, a major Finnish city with airport, railway station, university etc

We will not actually help in travel arrangements, but will of course support as best we can AND are happy to organize low-cost transportation from Oulu and Haparanda on the Swedish side. (Unfortunately railway and bus connections from Sweden to Finland are still under development)

There will not be a home hospitality program, but we are happy to help you get in touch with Finnish scouts so that you can maybe plan shared activities before or after the camp. 

Participants

Everyone at least 13 years of age is welcome!

Minors (trackers and explorers) must be escorted by adult scout leaders.

Participation fee

The pricing of the camp was published on November 9th in the general assembly of Pohjanmaan Partiolaiset (Ostrobothnia Scout Association).

  • The full camp from July 10th to 16th (Thursday to Wednesday) costs 235 euros
  • The shorter camp from July 10th to 13th (Thursday to Sunday), costs 150 euros
  • To attend a single day/days costs 48 euros each

The early bird fees above are valid in December and January. If there is capacity open in February 2025, prices go up to 260 euros (full camp) and 175 euros (short camp)

By default, the payment is made as you enroll via an electronic payment service. You need to pay with a debit card; no credit payment options are available. For larger groups invoicing is an option.

Read about terms of registration, attendance and cancellation

Information on international participant registration

We opened the individual registration form in 3 languages (Finnish, Swedish, English) as planned, but are still working to get the international group registration open. The individual registration is primarily for members of the Finnish national scouting organization (Suomen partiolaiset). There is also difference with payment of the participation fee: the individual registration the camp fee needs to be paid online straight away, whereas the group registration invoice will be sent to the national scouting organization (NSO). 

We hope to open the international  group registration by December 20th. The group leader will register the group first, then register him/herself, and finally distribute the link to the group member registration plus the  group identifier code to the group members. 

General facts about Finland 

For more info: info@orbis2025.fi