3 or 4 spots in Romania (1 Viewer)

I'm planning a photo road trip to Romania in the next couple of weeks by car (late April / early May). I don't have much information yet of places to go so would appreciate any tips. Maybe 3 or 4 must-see spots. My main destination is the Danube Delta and I have ringed Tulcea on the map. Does one leave the car there and take a boat or can you drive around and see a lot of birds that way?

So far, I thought of approaching via Belgrade, maybe stopping off in the Domogled park, which I see mentioned in another post, then roughly following the Danube to Tulcea, stopping off in a couple of good spots on the way.

Depending on how long it all takes I may come back via Bulgaria, Istanbul, Igoumenitsa, Italy - so any good stop off points on that route there would also be most welcome.

I'm a beginner birder, so I won't be going on mad hunts for the lesser spotted whatevers, the large flocks of big common slow-moving ones will be just as rewarding ! Thanks for any tips …

Hi George,

From Tulcea the only way to visit the Danube Delta it is on boat. You have also a lot of spots it the area beetwen Danube Delta and the border with Bulgaria (an area named Dobrogea): Macin Mountains, Babadag Forest, Histria, Grindul Chituc, Vadu, Grindul Lupilor, Agigea etc. It is a very good area for birding and field herpenthology. You'll also find a lot of interesting insects.

Thanks Cristian! I was hoping you'd be monitoring the Romania forum … I've found most of the places you mention on my map, they'll be great for breaking up my journey from Romania to Bulgaria. I'm really looking forward to all this trip !

I'll use this opportunity to collate any useful pre-trip information I find scattered in other threads, in case I have access to wifi en route.

Lonely Planet Eastern Europe http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eastern-Eur...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239467598&sr=1-1
Birds of Eastern Europe, Gorman http://birdingeasterneurope.blogspot.com/
out of stock at amazon but available via his site

Great Map of Danube Delta: http://bp2.blogger.com/_0P2NRufI24k...8/pjEY-P-p0-0/s1600-h/harta_delta_dunarii.jpg
Romania Birdwatching Book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romania-Bir...ie=UTF8&s=english-books&qid=1239466011&sr=8-3 out of stock
Domogled site http://www.domogled-cerna.ro/index_en.htm

Bulgaria locations: http://birdwatchingbulgaria.com/index.php?page=birdingareas
Bulgaria trip report: http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/bulgaria trip 1.htm
Great Bulgaria Chart: http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/Bulgaria bird list and locations1.htm

Lake Kerkini & Northern Greece locations http://www.birdwing.eu/index.php?PID=4

Google map with locations http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e....460131,25.795898&spn=11.511517,22.697754&z=6

Last year we drove via Hungary across to the Danube Delta in Romania, down the Black sea coast of Bulgaria and through to Northern Greece. The Danube Delta is so vast and only explored by boat. We struggled to know whether boat trips were legitimate or not when we turned up there so it might be worth looking in to arranged trips before you go...? Go via Brasov and see the Brown Bears! They were a real highlight. If you have specific questions about the trip feel free to send a Personal Message, although we're off again on Tuesday (different route) so you'll have to be quick.
A personal feeling - having birded in other places such as Hungary and Romania we really came to appreciate how easy it is to bird in Greece. You can drive around in places like Kerkini on the embankment and get really close to things from the car. You also don't have people shouting at you for not having paid for a guide (which we experienced in Hungary). Anyway, have a great time.
Hils

Thanks for those tips Hils - it looks like Northern Greece will be a great route back for my trip home. I'm afraid I'm just not organised enough to book anything in advance, but I was hoping to find something on the spot. I don't have much idea how long it will take to go from A to B, as there are so many variables (like road quality). Hungary sounds a little stressful! This will be my first trip this far east so I thought of just seeing how I get on when I'm there. I've added your tips to the Google Map …

It took us 12 hours driving from Rotterdam to get to Neusiedl near Vienna, Austria where we started birding. Roads through Hungary were great and as good as the UK (although don't be surprised if the road just stops at a river and you have to wait for a ferry!) The small scale map we had didn't show that and it came as a surprise (and an emergency stop!!):-O Don't get me wrong about Hungary - it's an amazing place, the Hortobagy is great but you do need permits and preferably guides (we prefer doing it ourselves though) and the people in bars etc. were very friendly (they even got me up doing traditional Hungarian dance with guys in purple dresses and big hats! ). The travelling speed changed drastically once we hit Romania where the road to Brasov took much longer than we'd predicted. We ended up staying in Sighosora (nice place) as we didn't make it all the way to Brasov from Debrecen in a day. We did make it from Brasov to Tulcea in a day though, if that helps.
Do make sure you visit Kaliakra in Bulgaria - a beautiful spot.
Hope that helps a bit!
We're doing more of Austria and Slovakia this time and the west of Romania and Bulgaria down to Greece. Can't wait!
Hils

Thanks, that kind of confirms what I thought about speed of traffic. I heard a taxi from Iasi to Bucharest took all day too - I won't be expecting to whizz along like I was on a motorway, but since from the sound of it there'll be plenty of good places to stop at, that should work out OK. Looks like you've got a great trip planned too, I'll be going east-west and you north-south and our routes will cross somewhere around Drobeta Turnu Severin !

BTW, George: Drobeta Turnu Severin it is in a very interesting area too...

George Edwards said:

Looks like you've got a great trip planned too, I'll be going east-west and you north-south and our routes will cross somewhere around Drobeta Turnu Severin !

Click to expand...

We'll look out for you! If you spot a Birdwing sticker (the logo to the left) in the side window of a Black Rav4 come and say hello!

By the way Racadau is the area of Brasov to visit at dusk to see the bears. A road called Jepilor where there are tower blocks on one side of the road and dark forest on the other. The bears all come down and wander around the streets looking for food in the bins - we were sceptical but they are well worth it!
The description at this link is worth a look:
http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transilvania/Brasov/Brasov/blog-15560.html

Do get in touch via email if you get to Northern Greece and we'll let you know what's about!
Kalo Taxidi/Bon Voyage!
Hils

well i've finally made it to romania - a little shell shocked from the driving but still in one piece, and so is the car (I hope) ;-) not many photos yet as stopping on my own just doesn't seem worth the hassle . I'm in constanta (from the little i've seen , very nice) and will be looking to find a bird guide when i get to tulcea hopefully this afternoon. I've contacted ibistours and did get a reply from them last week. hiring a boat on my own seems a wee bit expensive but if its the only option i may splurge. Now off to hunt for a USB cable without which I'm not going to be able to take many photos :-( amazing how one small wire can end up looming so large in a trip, I won't go into details but I could probably fill a few pages about how this cable has been so close and yet so far eluded me!! Anyway many birds seen while driving and the couple of stops I've made. Also some fantastic scenery - the bridges over the Danube are something to behold too. In the end Hils I ended up going via Sofia so our paths will not have crossed, but I'm still planning on going back via Greece, so will definitely email you closer the time for some tips and hope your trip is going well too.

Update: got my cable! that was easy.. hooray for constanta.

a quick update as i have wifi here. Trip going well and many birds seen! Today I took a tourist boat organised by the hotel in Tulcea. Everyone (including the on board tour guide!) said it was really not the sort of tour to do if you were interested in birds, as we went down the arm near the Ukraine, and it was a big boat that only stopped briefly, but for me it was very good as I saw quite a few new birds and good photos of many others. We passed several rollers and kingfishers and I got a nice shot of a kingfisher, a yellow bird turned out to be a bee-eater (just glimpsed), there was a distant cuckoo, loads of squacco herons, a couple of night herons, masses of whiskered terns and a lot of common terns, pygmy cormorants and great cormorants, plenty of the common birds starling bhg mallard egrets ylg etc and a large flock of pelicans climbing in a spiral high above. Noone else on board had much of clue about birds annd were probably disappointed they didn't encounter the massive flocks you hear about, but for me it was just great. Tomorrow i'm heading deeper into the delta hopefully to meet up with someone who'll take me on a small boat so more later..

btw going through babadag was very promising, i didn't stop but was overflown by quite a few raptors, including one i identified as a black kite from its forked tail. hoping to stop here on the way back. by the side of the road there was a large group of white storks - maybe 50 - which i did pull over for ..