Naven Outdoor Experience was founded in 2012 by Cecilia and Bengt-Åke Ström. Cecilia is from Kållandsö and is the 6th generation “Navare”, her father was the last generation to grow up on Navens lighthouse. The lighthouse, located just outside Navensberg, stopped being manned in 1952 and then the family moved from there.

Cecilia and Bengt-Åke met in 2007 when Cecilia got him a Christmas present, and you know you can’t return a Christmas present. They moved to Navensberg in 2011 to take over Cecilia’s grandparents’ house and got married in 2013.

Cecilia has been paddling for over 30 years and she transferred her passion to Bengt-Åke, so they decided to start a business. The basic idea was to showcase the fine archipelago found on the western side of Kållandsö, until then there had only been one kayak rental at Läckö Castle. Most people then chose to paddle to Naven’s lighthouse but not further, something that a new rental place would fix. In 2013, they also bought the kayak rental at Läckö Castle, which they now operate and are open during the summer months.

Social sustainability is something that is very warm to us at Naven, we work actively with local buisnesses and also employ young people from the local area to secure the growth of new labor for the industry. We strive to use as few disposable items as possible and encourage our guests to do the same. Naven Outdoor Experience, which from the beginning was called Naven’s kayak and sauna raft, today works with kayak rentals, cabins, hiking, sauna raft and guided tours.

We received the award as “Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year” in Destination Läckö-Kinnekulle in 2018 and were praised to see development potential and constantly create new travel opportunities for the destination.