Varangerhalvøya National Park lies on the Varanger Peninsula

Varanger Peninsula

Varanger Peninsula is a peninsula in Finnmark, north-eastern Norway, by the Barents Sea. The peninsula has the Tanafjord to the west, the Varangerfjord to the south and the Barents Sea to the north and east. Vadsø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg, Vardø and Unjárga - Nesseby are the municipalities sharing the...

 in the municipalities Båtsfjord

Båtsfjord

Båtsfjord is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Båtsfjord.Vardø herred was separated from the town of Vardø in 1868 to be a municipality of its own. In 1957, the municipality was renamed Båtsfjord...

, Nesseby

Nesseby

Unjárga or Nesseby is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Varangerbotn....

, Vadsø

Vadsø

is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....

, and Vardø

Vardø

is a town and a municipality in Finnmark county in the extreme northeast part of Norway.Vardø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The law required that all cities should be separated from their rural districts, but because of a low population and very few voters, this was...

, in the northeastern part of Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

. The peninsula is the largest area within the Arctic climate zone in mainland Norway. The peninsula still has a complete alpine ecosystem with reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

 (domesticated), wolverine

Wolverine

The wolverine, pronounced , Gulo gulo , also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...

 and arctic fox

Arctic fox

The arctic fox , also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version...

. The latter is the most endangered mammal species of Norway. A special programme based on reducing the number of the dominant red fox has shown very good results (per 2008) for the small arctic fox population.

The name

The last element is the finite form of halvøy f ('half-island' = peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

). For the first element see > Sør-Varanger

Sør-Varanger

Sør-Varanger is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kirkenes. Sør-Varanger was separated from the municipality of Vadsø on 1 July 1858.-Name:...

.