Transylvanian Adventure Days 6 and 7
Back to nature at the Comisu hide, and on to the next stage.
There were two bears in the clearing at 6am on Saturday morning, and between then and when we departed 3 hours later all five bears that we’d seen passed through. Fortunately there were none when we left as we would have had to wait until they were out of the way. Apart from the obvious danger, this hide is busy with people coming and going most days, but the bears still use the clearing because we don’t disturb them. They live alone mostly, although sometimes in close proximity, but give each other space, except when a male is trying to persuade a female to mate with him. The big male had tried it on with the female several times, but she wouldn’t cooperate, moving a little way off. Once cubs are born, the females avoid the males which may threaten or kill them… and they look SO cuddly too.
It was eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast, plus a choice of locally made jams and spreads. The honey is amazing — rather raw and very rich and quite unlike what I’ve tried before. The Foundation sells local produce to encourage sustainable farming and the range on sale is building up.
We took a different route down from the hide on a track that wound through the woods. There was a wildlife camera which had some film of bears, wild boars and a fox — Oana just plugged the memory chip into her phone using an adapter so we could watch the clips. She constantly watches out for footprints and dung so she can see which mammals have passed by and can estimate when they passed and their direction. Lower down, there were a lot of large puddles by the track that were full of frogs, toads, at least two species of newt and many tadpoles. Again, we heard lots of chaffinches and some other birds, but they stayed high up in the trees.
When we arrived back where the car was parked, the sun came out, and lots of butterflies emerged, including two Camberwell Beauties that floated in on their big wings and helpfully landed in front of us. There were also lots of smaller moths and butterflies on the mud by a little stream, making me very over-excited.
Having done any necessary pack adjustments, we set off once more on foot up a steep path through an area that had been clean-felled a few years ago. It was being left to regenerate naturally with beech, spruce, larch, rowan and sallow. As a rule, they don’t remove fallen timber as this provides habitat for many invertebrates that, in turn, feed the birds and mammals. I was learning a lot from Oana as we walked, but she also said that she’d been inspired to pay more attention to insects by my pointing them out, and sometimes tracking them enthusiastically.
The climb to the Comisu hide was longer than yesterday’s, and pretty relentless, but we arrived in very good time as, apparently, I walk faster than most of her guests. This structure is higher up the mountain and much more basic than Bunea having no running water, no shower, basic cooking facilities and bunks with sleeping bags. There was also no Champagne to welcome us, but we sat on the turf roof, drinking beeer in the sunshine with most of the 30 kilometre Piatra Craiului ridge and steep forested hills laid out before us under an ever-changing sky. Just magnificent!
Once again, it was bears that came into view; initially a female and her cub, which followed her very closely, and later a solitary male. The female and cub departed immediately on detecting the male. I was disappointed not to see bison or wild boar, nor any other mammals, but as we descended next morning, Oana got a message that bison had appeared near the hide just after we’d departed!
We had a very peaceful evening, telling stories as the sun set and darkness fell, and after a simple but nice supper, I slept very well.
On Sunday, after tidying and shutting the hide, we retraced our steps steeply downhill, which was made easier by my hiking sticks, which add stability and reduce the impact on your knees. The bumpy drive back to Rucar followed but, it being Sunday, there were no timber operations.
I had left the final three nights of my Transylvanian holiday open, until I knew more about what was interesting and feasible within the time available. I had thought of going to the south-west of Romania, to the apparently amazing Retezat National Park, but it was too far, and too much for a couple of days. Had Richard been with me, we might have hired a car and gone there (or somewhere else), but I decided to explore the northern end of the Piatra Craiului ridge. So I booked a room in a hotel right next to it, on the edge of the town of Zarnesti, (Zarnesht). A car had been organised to take me there, on the narrow roads busy with Sunday traffic, mostly heading to Bran. I had enjoyed Comisu, but a shower and a proper bed were very welcome.
I’m on my own now, and Zarnesti is proper Transylvania with only a little tourism, and a huge amount of beautiful countryside to explore.
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