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TRANSYLVANJAN WOLF
Let's explore and understand together this magic yet so real and fascinating place: TRANSILVANIA.
Whether you are interested in the wildlife here, myths and legends related to it, traditional Transylvanian lifestyle, you can always trust people that grew up with all that. You can choose one of our tours, day-walks or activities focused on:
 Exploring unspoiled nature
Transylvania has a very good and important network of protected areas. Piatra Craiului National Park and Bucegi Natural Park are two of the most important and spectacular ones. Stretching over 15,ooo ha the former and over 30,ooo ha the latter they offer a huge variety of very well preserved forested areas where wolves and bears are still abundant, alpine meadows with very rich wild flora, crystal clear mountain creeks and waterfalls. Because of the limestone here, there is an impressive number of caves with very interesting formations or hosting very rare or even endemic species.
Wildlife tracking and watching
The Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania are home to impressive numbers of wolves, bears, lynx and other wildlife. Even more impressive, this is in close coexistence with traditional farming activities-something that didn’t really happen in any other parts of Europe. Seeing wild animals in their natural environment is always a challenge; finding tracks or other signs of them is the very first step to understand the world they live in and their life.
We can arrange bear-watching from one of the hides owned by the Romanian National Forest Authority (Romsilva); about 80 % chances to see bears as well as other wildlife (wild boar, Lesser spotted Eagle, Ural Owl). Two wolf and one lynx observation last year.
Traditional farming
For most of the visitors here, the first impression is of really stepping back in time: horse-and-carts sharing the roads with cars, people scything the hay and building up haystacks, amazingly ancient and beautiful traditions, widespread use of different plants in traditional cooking, medicine and even magic. One of the best sides is that the people here are always more than
willing to stop and talk to you about all that.
Great countryside areas
Wooden houses surrounded by beautiful meadows carpeted with hundreds of wild flowers, shepherd camps where very little has changed through centuries, children walking for one-two hours to school, colourful local Sunday-markets –everything that used to be part of everyday life in Western Europe a hundred years ago or more and is now lost for ever…
Romanian, Hungarian, German and Gypsy great cultural heritage
A few different ethnic groups have shared this land throughout centuries-each one of them leaving its own authentic marks in the culture of the place. Massive and incredibly well-defended German fortified churches in picturesque villages that are now almost completely abandoned; beautiful green, brown or cobalt blue pottery produced or sold in the Szekler (a
Hungarian speaking population) villages; Romanian old villages up in the mountains; Gypsies wearing their traditional costumes everyday and playing and singing their great music.
Traditional cooking
The fascinating variety of cultures in Transylvania translates into an incredible variety of traditional dishes. From the Romanian sarmale (meat and rice stuffed cabbage leaves), to Hungarian kurtos-kalacs (a delicious pastry) and the Sachsen supa de chimen (caraway seeds soup);finally to the Gypsies cricala ( vegetable stew with polenta and fried eggs)-this is a cultural
tour on its own. Most of these recipes have interesting stories or jokes behind them.
Birdwatching
Various types of habitats like freshwater wetlands, well-forested mountains and hills , alpine meadows, fishponds, gorges together with really wildlife-friendly farming on the land make Transylvania a place “in which the experience of birdwatching is ( as with most aspects of life) simply in a time warp” (James Roberts: ‘Romania, a bird watching and wildlife guide’). Some of the highlights here are Wallcreeper, almost all European woodpecker species, Ural owl, high numbers of White storks with the Black breeding in a few spots. Exploring the birdlife of Transylvania can be easily connected with exploring Danube Delta-probably the best birdwatching place in the whole Europe.
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