Our trip to Romania could not be complete without visiting the Danube Delta. It was a fair distance out of the way, but well worth it. After a very long hot drive, where we left the slightly cooler mountains and crossed the scorching plains, we eventually arrived in the arid delta region. So much of the land looked parched beyond belief. Crops were totally wilted and grass was quickly turning to dust. It seems the devastation we’ve read about occurring in England due to the floods, is equally matched over here due to draught. On arrival in the village of Murghiol we were approached by Serghei Condrat, a local man who offered accommodation and boat trips. As we were in search of both, we struck a deal (in my school girl French) and were soon parked up in his farm yard. Serghei and his wife have a small plot of land where he’s built a house from local resources and traditional methods. There were lots of examples of items being reused, and lots of things stored, awaiting a new purpose. They had dozens of chickens, a pig, cats, dogs, vegetable plot and small vineyard. The kitchen was outside, there was no running water and all the heat came from an enormous wood burning stove.
When he first said “donc demain, cinq heure et demi?” (excuse poor spelling) I thought ha ha very funny, then I realised he wasn’t joking. So at 5am our alarm clock sounded, not that we would have needed one as the cockerel was equally punctual and we would have been awake from then on, boat trip or no boat trip. By 6am we were on the water. The sun was just about to rise and not another sole was in sight. The next 5 hours were spent cruising the river, canals and lakes of a very small part of the great Danube Delta. In no particular order we saw, pelicans, cormorants, glossy ibis, egrits and little egrits, a bittern, various unidentified terns, gulls and waders. A few lapwings, lots of white storks, herons – purple, grey, squacco and night – and some ducks, coots and mute swans. Down a narrow tributary we chased several kingfishers for almost half an hour. We also saw a small mammal which looked a bit like a beaver, our guide could only tell us what it was called in Romanian, but said they make nice hats and ladies coats from its fur, nice! In parts of the delta we had to punt along as the plants growing on the bottom just got caught in the motor every few meters. Serghei said that normally the water level is between 3-4m at present it is only 50cm. This is having a big effect on the whole ecosystem. The most obvious example was the giant shell fish that normally live on the bottom. The water temperature has increased substantially due to the level being so low, and so many of these creatures are dying, the surface being littered with floating shells. As we came back to shore most boats seemed to be just leaving for the day, packed with tourists, but we were very glad to be missing the heat of the day.
When he first said “donc demain, cinq heure et demi?” (excuse poor spelling) I thought ha ha very funny, then I realised he wasn’t joking. So at 5am our alarm clock sounded, not that we would have needed one as the cockerel was equally punctual and we would have been awake from then on, boat trip or no boat trip. By 6am we were on the water. The sun was just about to rise and not another sole was in sight. The next 5 hours were spent cruising the river, canals and lakes of a very small part of the great Danube Delta. In no particular order we saw, pelicans, cormorants, glossy ibis, egrits and little egrits, a bittern, various unidentified terns, gulls and waders. A few lapwings, lots of white storks, herons – purple, grey, squacco and night – and some ducks, coots and mute swans. Down a narrow tributary we chased several kingfishers for almost half an hour. We also saw a small mammal which looked a bit like a beaver, our guide could only tell us what it was called in Romanian, but said they make nice hats and ladies coats from its fur, nice! In parts of the delta we had to punt along as the plants growing on the bottom just got caught in the motor every few meters. Serghei said that normally the water level is between 3-4m at present it is only 50cm. This is having a big effect on the whole ecosystem. The most obvious example was the giant shell fish that normally live on the bottom. The water temperature has increased substantially due to the level being so low, and so many of these creatures are dying, the surface being littered with floating shells. As we came back to shore most boats seemed to be just leaving for the day, packed with tourists, but we were very glad to be missing the heat of the day.
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