A wooly welcoming committee

Overlaid with a thick fleece of moss and sporting stone outcrops that look like horns, the landscape here matches its inhabitants. Double-coated for warmth (and exceptional shagginess), Icelandic sheep are well equipped to thrive on the cold, windswept island they've called home ever since Vikings brought them here a millennium ago. During summer, Icelandic sheep are traditionally left out to wander and graze freely in rugged settings like this. The sheep are then gathered each September in an event called a rettir. In this festive effort by farming families, sheep are tracked far and wide on horseback, sorted with the help of sheepdogs, and returned safely to their homesteads.