However, the current reindeer herds on the Hardangervidda plateau do not originate from the old Reindeer population which occupied all the high plateaus in pre-historian times, but the present herd is a result of early 1900 initiatives with reindeer herding on the Hardangervidda. For this both reindeer and sami (herders) were brought to the area. The reindeer herding on the Hardangervidda did not succeed and the reindeers either escaped or were let loose. Some of the Sami herders settled down in Kinsarvik, but more so in Eidfjord, the municipality to the north of Kinsarvik.