Icelandic sheep becomes "selfie" star

An unusually friendly sheep has been hanging out at the popular tourist spot Reykjadalur in Hveragerði, South Iceland. This year, taking a selfie with the Reykjadalur sheep is THE tourist thing to do in Iceland. 

Reykjadalur is a lush green valley which offers naturally warm rivers, popular for bathing. The hike up to the river takes around half an hour. According to tour operator Andrés Úlfarsson at Iceland Activities, who hikes up to Reykjadalur almost every day, the sheep is super friendly. "It's the tourist star attraction this year," he told Mbl.is, our sister publication. 

Icelandic sheep are left to roam free in the countryside all summer and are herded back in September. 

"The sheep has been there all summer, since the sheep were let out. It's been there at least for a month, or longer," explains Úlfarsson. "People like to have their photo taken with an Icelandic sheep. It makes Reykjadalur an even more interesting spot to visit."

The sheep in question does not avoid people, like most sheep, but instead it follows them around the area and enjoys being petted. Úlfarsson expects that the sheep was home-reared on a local farm which would explain why it's so attached to humans. 

"I've never seen anything like that before. I mean, I've seen sheep in the area before but they now keep away since the tourists increased. I used to think there was something wrong with this sheep. One day my son found it lying on the sundeck over there and thought it was dying. But it was just happily sunbathing."

Check out the most photographed sheep in Iceland in our accompanying video. It has Icelandic subtitles saying basically the same thing as this article.