National and Natural Parks from Romania

Bucharest teamLet’s share our culture!

National or natural, here they are

• :Apuseni Mountains•Mures River Meadow•Semenic-Carasului Gorges•Nerei Gorges-Beusnita•Iron Gates•Domogled-Cerna Valley

• Retezat Mountains• Gradistea Muncelului• Cozia Mountains• Piatra Craiului Mountains• Bucegi Mountains• The Little Pond of Braila• Macinului Mountains• Hasmas-Bicazului Gorges

•Ceahlau Mountains•Vanatori-Neamt•Calimani Mountains•Rodnei Mountains

National Parks of Romania.

•Let's go on a virtual trip through National Parks of Romania. In fact, it's a tour through 11 National Parks and 7 Natural Parks. As well as through many other marvellous natural places from Romania.

ABOUT THE Apuseni PARK

• Natural Park Apuseni is the biggest limestone complex from Romania. Maybe you heard about Transylvanian medieval fortresses... Well... here, in Natural Park Apuseni is an extraordinary, huge stone fortress. But it's nature's masterpiece.

• Wild canyons, enormous sinkholes, tones of caves (some of them with glaciers), lost rivers, surfaces and undergroung waterfalls, lakes hidden from the day light, mysterious tunnels!

Natural Park MURES RIVER MEADOW• Here we have a typical ecosystem for wetlands.

Running and stagnant waters with periodical floods give us gallery forests, stands of willows and poplars. It is a nesting and passage place for over 200 species of birds. We can also see many kind of insects, deer, wild boars...

National Park SEMENIC-CARASULUI GORGES• Famous for its 300 years old wild beech

forest unique in Europe as well as for a large variety of karsts shapes. We meet an impressive number of caves and some of the longest and wildest gorges in Romania.

National Park NEREI GORGES-BEUSNITA• Nerei Gorges means 19 km of beauty.

We take a walk through step ridges, caves and strange rocks. The longest gorge from Romania.

• And Beusnita... a marvellous affluent of Nera River with waterfalls and a large biodiversity.

Natural Park IRON GATES

Many people know how gracious Danube River leaves Romania when it flows into Black Sea trough its Delta. But less people know how impetuous Danube is at its entrance in Romania.It was a fight long time ago. The River won. But I'd say there is still animosity between river and mountain. Because of a place named Danube Boilers...

National Park DOMOGLED-CERNA VALLEY

• A mountain area with atypical flora and fauna. We find here species which usually populate the warmest areas, with Mediterranean influences. Discover the passion of the beautiful black pine for climbing, enjoy a paradise of butterflies.

National Park RETEZAT MOUNTAINS

• It's been long time since I first stepped on Retezat trails. Breathtaking landscapes. But most powerful memory is the smell. It always smells like winter ending. Even in summer.

Natural Park GRADISTEA MUNCELULUI-CIOCLOVINA

• This is about virgin woods and caves with popular legends. But also about history. Gradistea Muncelului fortress, surrounded by other defence dacian fortresses, was the capital of Dacian state lead by Decebal. Here is a complex of sanctuaries devoted to sun cult and astronomic observations making up an ingenious calendar, very sharp for that times.

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National Park COZIA MOUNTAINS• Cozia Mountain suddenly rises from the

surrounding depression. Olt River washes it's feet. It appears as a rock giant made of steep slopes and a large number of towers.Almost entirely covered with a vegetal coat, it's an easy hike. A picturesque collection of plants accompanies our trail. For those who arrive at the top the prize is an astonishing landscape.

National Park PIATRA CRAIULUI MOUNTAINSA unique appearance. From Rucar-Bran Passage Piatra Craiului (King's Stone) Mountain looks like a 22 km long arched back dinosaur. The whole west side is a steep slope and the ridge is spectacular.Here I met chamois for the first time. I was so amazed by it's agility then I almost felt down. And I sow capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), too. And lots of flowers.

Natural Park BUCEGI MOUNTAINSHere we walk on the most beaten mountain trails from Romania. And such a high traffic must have a reason. You probably heard about garbage's bears from Brasov as well as Prahova Valley ski resort.Maybe you know a little about Sphinx and Babele (The Old Women) megalithic rocks that gave birth to legends and become symbols of this place. But there is a lot more...

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Natural Park LITTLE POND of BRAILA

Just a little Danube Delta, less known.It's about an isle between two branches of

Danube river. Every year the river floods this isle, so the ecosystem resembles very much to that of the Danube Delta.

National Park MACINULUI MOUNTAINS

Some of the oldest mountains of Europe. Winds, rains and sun worked them and nowadays they are less then 500 m high.If you look at them from some distance they seem to be the ruins of an old castle.

National Park HASMAS-BICAZULUI GORGESYes, my friend, karsts area again. Vertical steeps rise beside the road. Often they are so bent over the car that is hard not to think "Brrrrr! What if...?" Those are Bicazului Gorges.But there are Sugaului Gorges and Bicajelului Gorges, too. And Hasmasul Mic reservation with its beautiful Lonely Stone. And Red Lake with its true story and its legend...

National Park CEAHLAU MOUNTAINS• I can't say better then Romanian novelist Nicolae

Gane:

• "Ceahlau is the Mounntain King, it is the jewel, the poetry of this country, it is the secret source of our people's legends and melancholy folk songs, it is the eye forever opened over the boundaries of our ancestors' estate."

Natural Park VANATORI-NEAMTSurrounded by famous monasteries and history sites, this park gives us tranquillity offered by centuries- old forests. An evergreen oak forest reservation named Copper Woods. An oak forest reservation named Dumbrava and a birch forest reservation named Silver Forest.All this names were inspired from Romanian fairytales because this places are truly fairytale lands.

National Park CALIMANI MOUNTAINS

• Wait and think a little bit. Imagine this place 5 millon years ago. Volcano erupted. Then silence. A lot of silence.

National Park RODNEI MOUNTAINS

Glacial basins and valleys... alpine meadows painted with bushes of strawberry, blackberry, bilberry or red bilberry as well as beautiful lion's food.A baltic climate, tough weather just like the people around.

Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve• Danube Delta is a real show. We have a

great style scenario written by the Danube River. We have a unique director - Mother Nature - and very natural players, such as: birds, fishes and local people. It's a show you don't want to miss.

Danube Delta

• Danube Delta is the youngest land of Europe and it grows up quickly. Youngest but willing to distinguish itself. First, it wants to be interesting by closing a circle. Danube River springs from The Black Forest Mountains (Germany) and ends up into the Black Sea. Before it flows into the sea there is a beautiful old forest named Caraorman. This is a Turkish word and it means Black Forest.

• Then it loves superlatives like• the world's most extensive surface covered by

reed;• the world's richest ornithological fauna;• the third wet zone of the Earth (after the deltas

of the Amazon and Nile) and the biggest from Europe;

• Romania's most extensive sand banks;• Romania's shortest winter (only 20 days with

temperatures below freezing).

• Do you love numbers? Here they are:• it hosts 98% of the European aquatic

fauna;• meaning over 3400 animal species, most

of which are unique in the world;• approximately 300 species of birds, most

of which have been declared natural monuments (pelicans, egrets, canaries, storks);

• around 160 fish species are waiting for the sailors (sturgeons, sheat fish, carps, herrings, pikes);

• among the mammals, we can note the fox, the field mouse, the wild cat, the wolf and the bear. The thicket shores host turtles, vipers, water snakes and lizard colonies;

• over 1150 plant species prove that the flora is very rich in these places.

• There is a multitude of aquatic plants: plants with floating leaves (the white water lily, the yellow water lily, addrovanda - a rare carnivore plant), river plants (the reed, the aquatic mint) and terrestrial plants (the silver willow tree, the wild cherry tree, the ash tree).

• The most important landscape elements in the delta are the fluvial grinds; they are mud deposits that the river has made as it flows. The most important grinds are Letea (with the old forest reserve bearing the same name), Caraorman, and Erenciuc. They are all made up of oaks, willows and black poplars. Many lianas and other creeping plants populating the area give the extraordinary look.

• A powerful but still a fragile paradise. That's why Danube Delta has numerous areas that were declared natural reservations and included in the United Nations' list of natural monuments and it was named a biosphere reserve.

• A powerful but still a fragile paradise. That's why Danube Delta has numerous areas that were declared natural reservations and included in the United Nations' list of natural monuments and it was named a biosphere reserve. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve stretches over 5800 square km. and covers the delta, Razelm-Sinoe lagoons and the Danube River until the Cat Curve. The delta itself stretches over 4178 square km, of which 80% lies in Romania and the rest in Ukraine.

• The first mention of the Danube Delta was made by the Greek historian Herodotus who described the moment when Persian fleet of Darius entered the Delta (515-513 BC). The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve stretches over 5800 square km. and covers the delta, Razelm-Sinoe lagoons and the Danube River until the Cat Curve. The delta itself stretches over 4178 square km, of which 80% lies in Romania and the rest in Ukraine.

• Here you'll find a mix of original landscapes; the paradise of rush bushes, of numerous fish species. Great beauty and a real scientific value. Delta's new lands changes their shapes daily and modifies their dimensions year after year. Every tourist is amazed because every time they came in a place they see a totally different landscape. That's why they come back again and again.

• The delta lies around the three channels that the Danube has created:

• Chilia is the Northern branch and it is also the most active one, having two groups of ramifications. It is 120 km long and has formed its own micro-delta that lies mainly in Ukraine. It carries 63% of the entire water capacity of the river

• Sulina is the straight arm and also the shortest channel; it provides the most (sometime the best) of the facilities for tourist activities. It's 64 km long and it's generally used by commercial ships. It carries 15% of the whole water capacity of the river.

• Sfantu Gheorghe is the oldest one, 116 km long and it carries 22% of the whole water capacity of the river.

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