Romania and Danube Delta with tasting of Moldova

a tour (not only for birds) to one of Europe’s most important birding areas

Romania consists of ten historical territories, each offering a unique view on the countryside. During the tour, we will visit five of them, one of which will lead us to the neighbouring state of Moldova.

The first area is the Marmaros, which hides unique folk motifs, some of which are similar to Slovak ones (wooden churches, UNESCO). In the group of protected areas between Marmaros and Bukovina, we visit waterfall, will hop on a romantic steam train and take the cable car to the peaks, some of which tower 2303 metres above sea level. We will see the highest part of the Eastern Carpathians with its unique species of fauna and flora.

In southern Bukovina (most of which today belongs to Ukraine), we will be interested in the unique areas of steppe areas with specific species of fauna and historic churches (UNESCO).

We visit Besarabia, one of the most beautiful natural monuments of today’s Moldavia and together we will see how people live in one of the least developed European regions. In the Romanian part of Moldova, we will see large houses of Vlachika Roma people. We move to Dobruja, the least developed region of Romania.

Although Dobruja is only 170 km from the north to the south, it is connected with the rest of Romania with via two bridges and three ferries. No wonder this territory retained its unique character. We also visit the Danube Delta and surrounding lakes and salt lands (UNESCO), one of the very best bird watching sites in Europe. We will visit a Muslim town and beautiful Geological Park, where we will have a chance to see some rare species of animals.

On the way home we go to the legendary land of Transylvania, where we visit few places associated with the name of Dracula (UNESCO). We also take a look at older Romanian history, namely Dacian excavations, inscribed in UNESCO.

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characteristics: Romania is located in the northernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula, where the influence of several cultures is very present. It belongs to the rapidly evolving EU economies. In Romania’s territory, there are large changes in infrastructure building with the help of the EU, in stark contrast with old damaged houses. It is a landscape of great differences and paradoxes. Beautiful modern roads give ways to old bumpy ones;nice squares sit next to unpleasant large scale communist period settlements. The Carpathians pass through this country where the mighty Danube River meets the sea. The river and the mountains act as barriers, so every part of Romania has preserved not only its unique social but, above all, its natural characteristics.

Nature is relatively continental, and the landscape is a breakthrough between Carpathian fauna and fauna of West Asia. Unique and still unspoiled area lies in the delta of one of Europe’s largest rivers.

There are up to 176 species of birds nesting in the Danube Delta (in comparison, only 225 has been recorded to be nesting in the whole of Slovakia). In addition to nesting, the delta is also important for migrating birds, but also for wintering ones. Some of the nesting species are: ferruginous ducks, glossy ibises, spoonbills, pond herons, purple herons, little egrets, bitterns, pelicans, pygmy cormorants, avocets, stilts,rollers, terns and many others.

There are other unique places where we can see the Sandwich and little terns, European pond turtles, shikras, long-legged buzzards, snake eagles, isabelline wheatears, ortolan buntings, collared pratincoles, stone curlews, pied wheatears, sombre tits, spanish sparrows and others.

attractions of the visited area: breathtaking cemetery CimitirulVesel din Săpânța, wooden churches (UNESCO), the high mountains in Borșa, monasteries in Bukovina (UNESCO), Moldavia, Butesti cave, gypsy houses, a huge number of birds, the unique Danube delta (UNESCO), the historical moslimtown of Babadag, the Black Sea, the historic town of Sighisoara (UNESCO), the Drakula Castle, Dacian excavations (UNESCO) and many more

visited nature reserves: Munţii Maramureşului Natural Park, Munţii Rodnei National Park, Biospheric Reserve (Protected Bird Areas, Important Bird Areas, Ramsar Locality), Danube Delta (UNESCO), Nature Reserves Cheile Dobrogei, Suta de Movile and Pădurea Domnească

mammals:

target species of birds: European roller (Coracias garrulus), Hoopoe (Upupa epops), Pied wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka), Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus), Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus), Great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), Little owl (Athene noctua), Red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus)

other species of bird: Black-winged pratincole (Glareola nordmanni), Collared pranticole (Glareola pratincola), Squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides), Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), Spanish sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis), Long-legged buzzard (Buteo rufinus), Eurasian stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), Isabelline wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina), several species of waders

Duration: 10 days

Difficulty: easy to moderate in terms of the difficulty of excursions (we plan one medium-hard trip), medium difficulty in terms of traveling from Slovakia to the place of the trip (Romania)

During the trip there will be no long and physically demanding excursions. It will mostly be a walk or a boat transfer. A more demanding 4-hour trip is planned for one day only.

Accommodation: 9x boarding houses or hotels of different standards. Due to the low number of accommodation facilities in some places in the visited area, there is no option to choose from several types of accommodation. The accommodation will be mostly in nice double rooms with ensuite facilities.

Important notice and conditions for attendance: travel insurance is up to each participant individually (is not covered in trip fee). We do not recommend children under 10 years of age to participate on this trip.

Recommended equipment: hiking boots, waterproof clothing, torch, own binoculars

Day 1: Departure from Bratislava, transfer to the eastern part of the Maramures County (Maramures). On the way, we stop at the wooden churches enlisted in UNESCO World Heritage in Romania. Accommodation for 2 nights in the Munții Rodnei National Park.

Day 2: Trip to the Munții Rodnei National Park, Prisloppass (Pasul Prislop), cable car trip (not included in the price), trip to the waterfall

Day 3: Transfer towards Moldavian border, getting to know the culture and landscape of Romanian Moldavia and visiting several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Accommodation in the area.

Day 4: Moving through Moldova (the least developed European country) where we visit interesting habitats (if lucky, we will see a Booted eagle, a Stone –curlews and other species) to the Dobruja (Romania) area of the Danube Delta. Accommodation in this area.

5th-6th day: Boat trips along lakes and waterways in the middle of the delta, getting to know local habitats, observing birds in the Danube Delta. Visit the areas around Letea, 2-night accommodation.

Day 7: Visiting the Babadag Muslim Town, stopping at lakes and salty pans in the vicinity of Babadag, visiting a geological park with interesting bird species (egPied wheatear), visiting the nature reserve. Accommodation for 2 nights near Constanţa.

Day 8: Transfer to the Black Sea – possibility of swimming in the sea. On the way, lakes, salt pans and marine bird species. Return to accommodation.

Day 9: Move to areas where Vlad III. Tepes, known as Dracula, lived. A visit to Dracula’s Bran Castle (entrance is not included in the price) and Sighişoara (UNESCO) city, where Dracula was born. Accommodation in this area.

Day 10: Departure to Bratislava. On the way we see the selected Dacian fortifications (UNESCO).

The tour organizer reserves the right to change the program with respect to current weather and destination conditions.

Starting and ending point: Bratislava. Possibility to pick up individuals in other places along our route as well.

Date: June 8 – 17, 2018

Price: 590 €

Price includes: transport, boarding or hotels of various standards, guided tours throughout the whole day, mono and binocular renting, transport in the Danube Delta, admission to nature reserves and the Danube delta, insurance against insolvency

Price does NOT include: meals, individual travel insurance, cable car, entrance to the castle

Number of participants: 4 – 7 participants

Application form: Romania 2018 (doc), Romania 2018 (pdf)

The deadline for submitting applications and payment is extended till May 16, 2018.

Please send your applications to info@watching.sk, if necessary, you can also contact us at +421 948 495 111.

Genereal terms and conditions