Romania wildlife holiday stay in wildlife hides
Description of Romania wildlife holiday stay in wildlife hides
This is not just a wildlife watching holiday. This is an opportunity to be part of something bigger. The Carpathian Conservation Foundation is hard at work reversing the effects of deforestation and developing Europe’s largest private conservation project. One day, Romania’s magnificent Carpathian Mountains could be Europe’s answer to Yellowstone. For now, the southern Carpathians offer a taste of the spectacular wilderness they will hopefully one day become.
Spend three nights in the mountains around Pecineagu Lake, in the company of a specialist guide, your base a comfortable wooden hide. While it’s no 5-star hotel, it’s a long way from basic. You’ll be greeted with a glass of champagne on arrival, and in the evenings enjoy candlelit gourmet meals using organic, local ingredients as well as delectable Romanian wines. There’s running water, outdoor toilets, and hot showers (subject to the sun shining on the solar water heater), but no electricity – and no WiFi, either – just you, the mountains, and the wildlife.
You might see bears emerge from the treeline, a cautious red deer, or a fox. You can hear woodpeckers hammering on the trees, see kestrels, buzzards and owls in flight. Dawn, with a steaming cup of coffee beside you, and dusk, tend to be when the wildlife is most active. During the daytimes, your guide will lead you out on hikes through virgin forests and alpine meadows, checking camera traps and looking out for telltale tracks. You do need to be in decent fitness for this holiday, especially as there is some hiking required to reach the hides in the first place.
Reviews of this holiday are excellent – and as you can see, bear sightings are quite common. This is an ideal trip for adventurous wildlife watchers happy to do without some home comforts for a few days, and wanting to learn about one of Europe’s most impressive and forward-thinking conservation initiatives.
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9 Reviews of Romania wildlife holiday stay in wildlife hides
Reviewed on 22 May 2025 by Sarah May
It was amazing!... You'll be well fed and watered. You'll feel safe. Read full reviewReviewed on 15 May 2025 by Pat Brincat
Seeing bears at 6am in the morning - 5 stars. Read full reviewReviewed on 15 Sep 2024 by Andrea Powell
Superb! Very enjoyable and interesting. Seeing a bear emerge from the woods by our hide! We learned a lot about the national park project and our guide was very knowledgeable. Read full reviewReviewed on 25 Sep 2023 by Graham Swain
Naturally it was seeing the amazing wildlife - a bear, lots of wild boars and a red deer stag. Read full reviewReviewed on 08 Sep 2023 by Maeve Sheridan
The scenery, the isolation the wildlife especially seeing bears in the wild... Super a great holiday. Read full reviewReviewed on 14 Aug 2023 by Gill Harvey
This whole trip surpassed our expectations... As well as bears we saw a fox, capercaillies, red-backed shrike, honey buzzard, crossbills, heard and saw lots of evidence of black woodpeckers... All in all I couldn’t recommend this trip highly enough! Read full reviewReviewed on 19 Jul 2022 by Nick Howell
Seeing brown bears at Bunea hide and wild boar at Comisu… Brilliant. Read full reviewResponsible Travel
Planet
This hides are an initiative of Foundation Conservation Carpathia. The Carpathian Mountains form some of the largest contiguous forests on the continent with the highest percentage of virgin woodlands. They contain an extraordinarily high number of species, amongst them many autochthonous species, and they are home to the largest European populations of large carnivores.FCC has been active in protecting and restoring forests on the south-eastern slopes of the Fagaras Mountains since 2009. The Foundation aims to create a world-class wilderness reserve in the Southern Romanian Carpathians, large enough to support significant numbers of large carnivores and to allow evolutionary processes to happen. The project consists of the wider Fagaras Mountains Natura 2000 site, Piatra Craiului National Park and Leaota Mountain and forms a total of over 250,000 ha. Guests are kindly asked to contribute with a voluntary donation to our CARPATHIA conservation project to help us with this work.
We think wilderness hides are a great way to explore the wilderness and wildlife without interfering with their natural behaviour and represent a long term alternative to trophy hunting. The activities we offer are focused on exploring the surrounding nature and its biodiversity, often going on roads and paths that are not part of touristic routs. We make sure all of our activities have a positive impact on the environment.
People
We employ people from the local community for the maintenance of the hides. We offer them a stable work place and good working conditions. We support them in learning more in their respective fields, be it woodwork, plumping or logistics.We use mainly locally produced organic food in our kitchen. People in the valley, generally do not use pesticides or artificial fertilisers, and the livestock is still kept the old way: outside on the pastures. The markets in the surrounding towns deliver fresh onions, salad, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, berries, peas, beans, and many more vegetables and fruits. Other food such as milk, eggs, honey, potatoes, lamb, and veal is bought from the farmers in the valley. We want to make sure the whole community is involved and plan on developing a farmers network that will grow alongside our tourism activities.
During the summer we also often recommend guesthouses in the valley and we always include the opportunity to visit towns and mountain villages which helps further to support local businesses.
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