Delta Dunarii
Over my first weekend in Romania this summer (two weeks ago now, wow!), I went with Jenny and Fabien to the Danube Delta. I had never been to the Delta before, but I had heard from Romanians and foreigners alike that it is a must-see. The delta is a UNESCO protected wildlife area, and it is famous for its enormous variety of fish and birds. Over 300 different species of bird live in the Danube Delta for at least part of the year. Those of you who have ever witnessed my reaction when a bird gets too close to me will understand what this meant. The Delta was a potentially terrifying place for me! To my mingled relief and disappointment, we did not see nearly as many birds as I expected. And to my unqualified relief, they kept their distance!
In my opinion, one of the neatest things about the Delta is its remoteness. The few towns that are scattered throughout the wetlands can only be reached by boat. Large ferries, small motor boats, rowboats, and canoes carry people and goods along the various branches and canals of the Danube. The town where we stayed, Crisan, was a single row of houses stretching for seven kilometers with the main branch of the Danube on one side and marshes on the other side.
The scenery was beautiful, and we spent several enjoyable hours exploring the network of canals and lakes near Crisan.
Me, Jenny, and Fab squeezed into the boat for our tour of the Delta. Our guide, sitting behind us, made me miss Franklin from Manuel Antonio National Park. Viorel certainly knew his way around the Delta, and he was good at pointing out egrets, but he was nowhere near as knowledgeable or enthusiastic about the local flora and fauna as Franklin was.
An owl fast asleep on a branch.
A swan taking off. Its partner and their line of cygnets had just swum off into the reeds, a little too quickly for me to get a photo.
A floating gas station.
Unsurprisingly, the most common dish in the Delta consists of delicious, fresh fish. We had fish at nearly every meal, and we got lots of practice eating around the bones! Here Jenny and I show off our fish skeletons after our first dinner in Crisan:
On our second day in the Delta, we visited the old port city of Sulina--read all about it in my next post!
In my opinion, one of the neatest things about the Delta is its remoteness. The few towns that are scattered throughout the wetlands can only be reached by boat. Large ferries, small motor boats, rowboats, and canoes carry people and goods along the various branches and canals of the Danube. The town where we stayed, Crisan, was a single row of houses stretching for seven kilometers with the main branch of the Danube on one side and marshes on the other side.
The scenery was beautiful, and we spent several enjoyable hours exploring the network of canals and lakes near Crisan.
Me, Jenny, and Fab squeezed into the boat for our tour of the Delta. Our guide, sitting behind us, made me miss Franklin from Manuel Antonio National Park. Viorel certainly knew his way around the Delta, and he was good at pointing out egrets, but he was nowhere near as knowledgeable or enthusiastic about the local flora and fauna as Franklin was. 
An owl fast asleep on a branch.
A swan taking off. Its partner and their line of cygnets had just swum off into the reeds, a little too quickly for me to get a photo. 
A floating gas station.Unsurprisingly, the most common dish in the Delta consists of delicious, fresh fish. We had fish at nearly every meal, and we got lots of practice eating around the bones! Here Jenny and I show off our fish skeletons after our first dinner in Crisan:
On our second day in the Delta, we visited the old port city of Sulina--read all about it in my next post!
posted by Erin Kay at 9:35 AM
1 Comments:
You can blame me for your fear of the birds....I failed to protect you from that mother duck when you were three!
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