Four days safari experience in the Danube Delta from Bucharest

Bucharest - Danube Delta

Our day will start in Bucharest. You will be picked-up by our guide from your hotel and start your trip to Tulcea port. This is the place where the Danube River splits into three narrow canals (Sulina, Chilia, and Sfântu Gheorghe) before spilling into the Black Sea.

Tulcea

Also known as Europe’s Amazon River, the Danube River forms a natural border between Romania and Bulgaria. The Danube Delta is a unique biosphere reserve filled with rare species of plants and birds, and it is the perfect spot to enjoy the unspoiled nature. All of these earned it a spot on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Mila 23

Lunch: At your expense

You will then reach one of the traditional villages from the heart of the Danube Delta, Mila 23. The traditional fishing village was founded by the Lipovans, a group of Russian refugees from centuries ago. Certain areas of the Delta can only be explored via rowing classic boats or kayaks, and the narrow channels surrounded by tall trees and lush vegetation stand as a barrier between civilization and unspoiled nature.

Throughout your trip through the Danube Delta, you will constantly enjoy bird watching sessions that will introduce you to the flora and fauna of this remarkable delta biosphere reserve, with bushy reed beds and around 300 bird species such as red-breasted geese and dalmatian pelicans.

Dinner: At the hotel

Overnight in Mila 23.

Breakfast: At the hotel

You will take a day tour to one of the oldest human settlements in Romania by following the Sulina Canal. The port of Sulina was mentioned for the first time more than 1,000 years ago under the name of Selina, and it the easternmost town in Romania. Rowing down the Sulina canal will reveal countless species of birds, water snakes, and fish.

In Sulina, you will visit the most important landmarks of the village: the old churches, the 55 feet tall lighthouse located in the middle of the town, the museum inside the lighthouse, and the St. Alexander and St. Nicholas Cathedral, an important tourist attraction that was built over 62 years, between 1910 and 1982. It was built to celebrate Dobruja's liberation from the Turkish occupation through the Romanian War of Independence.

You will enjoy a delicious lunch at a local guest house on the shore of the Danube Delta, and then you will take a bus trip to the nearby beach.

Lunch: At your expense

Here, you will have a few hours at your disposal, so you can swim in the Black Sea, discover the local wildlife, or take a stroll along the beach.

Upon request, you can take a relaxing walk through the beautiful Sulina cemetery, and then reunite with the rest of the group on the beach.

Exploring the Danube Delta will inevitably reveal the extraordinary diversity of birds. Even if the large colonies of birds are in the protected areas, you will see pelicans, cormorants, egrets, and even eagles. A particularity of the birds leaving in the Danube Delta is that the birds go on laying eggs in alien nests because a great part of the aquatic-species nests are flooded.

You will then take a boat back to the local guesthouse where we will spend the night.

Dinner: Included

Overnight in Mila 23.

Breakfast: At the hotel

Today you will take a boat day tour to the Letea Village, a beautiful village filled with numerous traditional houses built with wood and clay, with thatched roofs and painted in lively shades of blue and green. From there, you will take an offroad tour of the nearby Letea Forest, the northernmost subtropical forest in Europe. Here, you will see the world’s only oak forest on salty sand, lianas, and a subtropical flora that cannot be found elsewhere in Romania, filled with a diversity of wildlife such as wild horses. The wild horses appeared a few decades ago when the communist party decided that all personal belongings, including the cows, sheep, and horses, are the property of the state. In this context, the locals preferred to let the horses in the forests than to donate to the Romanian state ruled by communists.

Upon returning from the Letea Forest, you will take a short walking tour in the village to see and photograph the traditional houses that still stand in this beautiful corner of the world, chat with the locals, and taste some fruits from the trees.

Lunch will be served back at the guest house, and the rest of the day is at your disposal, so you can choose to go fishing, take a walk, or just relax in the guest house.

Lunch: At your expense

In the evening, some local fishermen will prepare a traditional dinner made of local species of fish.

Dinner: At the hotel

At dusk, you will go and watch as the sun set through the willows of the Danube Delta, and then head back to the guest house to call it a day.

Overnight in Mila 23.

Breakfast: At the hotel

On the last day of the Danube Delta tour, you will leave behind the wilderness of this land and head back to Bucharest, where you will be transferred back to your hotel.