Romania.
It's not exactly the most well-advertised, globally marketed tourist destination. Yet I wholeheartedly recommend it for a visit.
This summer I've been able to take part in a conservation trip to the Saxon Villages of Transylvania, Romania. It is the most beautiful, vibrant and wild place I've ever been. Not only that, but the trip brought together a group of wonderful and diversely skilled scientists, who helped guide us through gathering data for their reports.
The trip was run by conservation charity Operation Wallacea, who do great work in many countries around the globe. They run a trip with our Sixth Form every two years, and as soon as I heard about it, I had to take part.
After a year of build up since finding out about and signing up for the trip, we were finally on a plane bound for Tirgu Mures, Transylvania. It was surreal.
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| Crit |
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| Crit |
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| Mesendorf |
Once the plane landed, we took a coach ride through the wonderful countryside to our first destination, the Saxon village of Crit. We spent a total of 14 days in the three villages Crit, Viscri & Mesendorf. All three are historical Saxon villages, which retain heritage aspects such as the beautiful fortified churches. These were designed to harbour the village-people incase of hostile forces entering the area.
Our time spent in the villages was glorious, and the weather remained brilliant for most of the trip (apart from one thunderstorm).
The aim of the conservation work in Transylvania is to retain the ancient agricultural techniques used by the residents. Rather than use a large machine to harvest their grass for hay, they use a traditional scythe and send it back home on a horse and cart. Seeing this happen was like being transported back in time to before the Industrial Revolution, to a 1700s Britain. All the families are very close knit, with each generation being given a job to do.
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| A young boy driving our horse and cart |
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| Traditional farming methods |
Studying the grasslands gave us a chance to see some brilliant specimens of flora and fauna. This is what flared up my passion for nature, and that's why I'm choosing to apply for Zoology at university.
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| Scarce Swallowtail Butterfly |
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| Sand Lizard |
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| White Storks, these were a constant presence throughout the villages |
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| Scarce Swallowtail Butterfly |
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| Holding Birds |
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| Holding Birds |
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| A Little Owl - Which I got to hold!! |
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| Very old Blue Butterfly |
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| Sand Lizard |
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| Wasp Spider |
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| Meadow Brown Butterfly |
We saw many wild animals throughout our various sessions, such as herps (for lizards), small mammals, grass (butterflys & plants), bats, birds, and large mammals. In fact during one of our treks, we managed to see a European Brown Bear! But we also met plenty of the domisticated Romanian residents throughout the three villages. I wanted to take them all home!
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| The puppy who lived in the shop |
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| Bernhardt the puppy |
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| Horses running to follow the cart |
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| A 'shepherd dog' puppy. Unfortunately these guys were trained to be very vicious (to protect sheep from wolves/bears) through quite violent methods. Shame. |
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| Puffy the dog |
The trip gave us the chance to really feel at one with nature and the environment. A few nights we slept out under the stars, drifting into unconsciousness as the quiet chords of the ukelele were played and the bonfire burnt down to embers. The stars were amazing - I've never seen the nightsky so clearly, it was beautiful... But damn hard to get photos of, so here's some other shots from our chilled out times.
Romania is a wonderful and beautiful country, and I cannot wait to go back. For now, all I can do is reminisce and share...
So, if you heed one piece of advice here, it is GO TO ROMANIA.
I hope you've enjoyed this post, if you have any questions about the trip don't hesitate to comment and ask!
