Home » Romania » There’s a Bear in There! Walking in Transylvania
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We just got back from a 2 day roadtrip in Northern Transylvania, Romania. It was a lovely couple of days and totally impromptu, that’s how we roll. I published a post about Dracula in Romania a day or so ago and we got inspired to go visit one of Romania’s Dracula themed hotels, around 3-4 hours from our base here in Northern Maramures County.
The hotel, sadly, wasn’t great, so no recommendation there, but that part of Romania was absolutely stunning.
Everything, visually, historically and in terms of…ahem…wildlife.
You probably know we like a little family walk now and then (we just got back from Everest region) so we found a local walking track, just a little one through the woods, nothing taxing.
It passed through an important nature conservation area and there was a boardwalk and such like. Great, we thought, let’s get some fresh air.
At last a sign! And off we went, into the woods. Notice the wolf, wolves…nu problem!
First up, Google couldn’t find it, we drove up and down a deserted country road several times before we spotted the entrance into the, rather dense, woods.
It surprised us that a walking track would cross a railway line, but on closer inspection, this track looked pretty safe.
I think we’re safe on this railway line.
Disappearing into the trees. It was a beautiful sunny day, but fresh snow lingered in the deep shade of the forest.
OK kids, time for some of that world schooling/ homeschooling thing we do. A nature walk in Transylvania, with maps, climate, ecosystems, wildlife, habitat, all that stuff. In Romanian, yes, we know some Romanian after 2 years here.
He’s almost 13, he has a need to goof.
Boo was a bit chilly in the shade so he borrowed my fake-sheep jacket. Obviously, any bears would eat him first as he looked most like a sheep. “What do bears eat ?” Appropriate education in action.
We strung ourselves out over 100m, Boo running ahead, mum hanging behind playing with F stops on her camera.
Another one of these. Plants, birds, deer, wolves, no mention of bears.
So on we walked, it was all very lovely and silent other than our voices and crunching footsteps.
The sun streamed onto moss and snow when the tree cover broke.
We checked Google, we had a good connection, Romania is really good for that stuff, and we were almost at the next town so continued walking.
Just a few hundred metres after this spot we found the thing below. I found it, I didn’t realise at first
Somebody has been walking along here in bare feet! No, actually, make that BEAR feet…
You never saw 4 people get out of the woods quicker!
Bear tracks. Mum and baby maybe?
So we sprint-walked back out of there, making as much noise as possible and just recapping on the “What to do if you see a bear?” and ” What do bears eat?” information.
Calmly, of course.
We figured that as bears eat from bins a lot around here and we’d almost reached the next town, we were probably entering their territory.
We’ve never seen a wild bear anywhere in Romania, but we’ve seen their skins used in the amazing local Christmas traditions, visited a bear sanctuary and heard stories of rare maulings not far from home.
They’re here, but they’re not a real danger. We love them, they’re freaking awesome!
Happy to see Sexy (our truck, after the TARDIS) again!
We’re leaving Romania soon. Back on the road again, heading to Egypt. It’s been almost 20 years since Chef and I met on the Nile, I think it’s time to show the kids.
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About the author
Alyson Long
Alyson Long is a British medical scientist who jumped ship to chase dreams. A former Chief Biomedical Scientist at London's West Middlesex Hospital she started in website creation and travel writing in 2011.
Alyson is a full-time blogger and travel writer, a published author, and owns several websites. World Travel Family is the biggest.
A lifetime of wanderlust and over 6 years of full-time travel, plus a separate 12 month gap year, has given Alyson and the family some travel expert smarts to share with you on this world travel site.
Today Alyson still travels extensively to update this site and continue her mission to visit every country, but she's often at home on her farm in Australia.
4 thoughts on “There’s a Bear in There! Walking in Transylvania”
Great to see that you love Romania and you enjoyed spending many weeks discovering some of the most beautiful places in this country. As a Geographer and Tour Guide I may recommend you to visit some other great natural places when you come back in Romania, such as Retezat National Park, Caras Gorges or Nera Gorges.
Wow, what a great set of bear tracks you found! Two summers ago, we had a bear encounter, but it was in an area that just has black bears and so we just loaded our pockets with rocks, grabbed some sticks, and started making lots and lots of noise – “Hey, bears! We’re here, but we don’t want to bother you, so just leave us alone!” 🙂
These are European Brown Bears and there are so many about that they have to cull them. that makes me wonder why a bear sanctuary exists, but still. Love the wildlife here, but I’d like to see a wild bear from a car, not in the woods…we know how big they are!
Great to see that you love Romania and you enjoyed spending many weeks discovering some of the most beautiful places in this country. As a Geographer and Tour Guide I may recommend you to visit some other great natural places when you come back in Romania, such as Retezat National Park, Caras Gorges or Nera Gorges.
Brilliant to see the bear tracks, a baby too!!!! Wow 😀
Wow, what a great set of bear tracks you found! Two summers ago, we had a bear encounter, but it was in an area that just has black bears and so we just loaded our pockets with rocks, grabbed some sticks, and started making lots and lots of noise – “Hey, bears! We’re here, but we don’t want to bother you, so just leave us alone!” 🙂
These are European Brown Bears and there are so many about that they have to cull them. that makes me wonder why a bear sanctuary exists, but still. Love the wildlife here, but I’d like to see a wild bear from a car, not in the woods…we know how big they are!