Lake Vikingavatn (Birders paradise)

is also called Little "Lake Myvatn" because of the abundance of nesting duck species and other birds.  The extensive, sandy delta of "River Jokulsa a Fjollum" is the nesting grounds for a few hundred pairs of great skuas, the only colony in the north.  On "Raudinupur"  (further north),  a promontory in the northeastern corner of the mouth of the "Oxarfiord Bay", there is a small colony of gannets.  Off the shore of this part of the country, long-tailed- and pomarine skuas are occasionally seen on migration.

Lake Vikingavatn has an area of 2,4 km². It is rather shallow and only 4 m above sea level. It has no visible discharge and road no. 85 passes just south of it. The catch consists of brown trout and lake char.

Board and lodgings are offered at the farmstead Vikingavatn, which was an estate in the past and originally owned by a farmer by the name "Vikingur". He had a quarrel with the Norwegian king "Harald fair hair", who sent some men to Iceland to kill him. When they arrived, Vikingur was fishing on the lake.  They killed him when he returned to shore by beheading him.  They pickled the head to preserve it as proof for the king . On their way back, they rode across the "Reykjaheidi" moorland and rested by a projecting mountain. When they looked at the head, it yawned so frightfully, that they buried it on the spot.