There are around 8,000 bears in our country, double what would be optimal, and travel agencies have thought to take advantage of this. Tourists, especially foreigners, can buy a “Bear Safari” experience on Transfăgărășan.
Between $44 and $112 costs a Safari with bears on Transfăgărășan
Foreign tourists coming to Romania are the ones who could taste such an experience, which lasts 12 hours and costs over one hundred dollars for an adult: “Bear safari near the Poenari Fortress”.
“Discover the beauty of the mountain road Transfăgărăşaneven if you don’t have your own car, on this small-group tour from Bucharest. Before reaching the famous road, you will stop on the way at the Poenari Fortress to learn its history with Vlad Țepeș. In the mountains, you will stop at panoramic viewpoints and visit Vidraru Dam and Vidraru Lake. There is a seven passenger limit on this small group tour.“, reads the advertisement on Tripadvisor.
“We guarantee you will see wild brown bears from May to October.“, claim the organizers.
“On the way we will meet wild brown bears.“, they say.
It’s not the only ad for such an experience on the TripAdvisor search engine.
The price starts from $44, around 200 lei, and can reach over $100. For example, for the month of August, such a tour costs 112 dollars, that is a little over 500 lei.
Tourists, from all over the world, are very pleased with the experience, most of them have posted pictures of the bears caught on Transfăgărășan along with their favorable comments.
“A great opportunity to see brown bears. I saw 10, including several mothers with their cubs (we went in July). The tour is well organized and runs according to plan.“, wrote Julio, a visitor from Guatemala, who visited our country in mid-July.
Bears surprised on Transfăgărășan
“We were ecstatic to see lots of bears, mostly mothers with cubs, who were so cute to watch playing, and spotted a fox or two.”, commented a couple of Australian tourists.
“The real highlights were the bears, we saw 17!!!, and the stop at the lake in the mountains. It’s an unforgettable trip!”noted a Dutch tourist who visited Romania in July.
“We drove for two hours and immediately saw the first bears near the car. (…) I don’t know how many bears I saw in total, but there were a lot. I also spotted some chickens near the car. (..) I would definitely recommend this once in a lifetime experience as someone who has traveled a lot and experienced a lot around the world.,” says Kai Samson, who describes the experience as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
She is not the only tourist who thinks like this: “I highly recommend this tour. Doing it on your own is quite difficult to drive and you won’t be able to locate the bears. Save time and money”.
Bears beg for food on Transfăgărășan – Photo Montana Vidraru Association
“Despite all the reviews, we were a little skeptical about seeing bears, but we ended up seeing a lot of bears (and bear cubs!). Bears are so used to people that they just relax on the side of the road and don’t mind being photographed (from a safe distance)“, said someone who visited our country at the end of June.
The photos posted in the reviews on TripAdvisor show how close the tourists got to the bears.
Image 1/6:
urs transfagarasan Review Tripadvisor 2 virginia s jpg
There are over 170 positive reviews for this experience alone.
A fed bear is a dead bear
While the tourists are happy after the trip where they can see the bears “in the natural habitat”specialists point out that bears are dangerous wild animals. Last year alone there were “over 70 cases of attacks on humans, with mutilations, with over 3 days of hospitalization“, and in the last 20 years, 29 people have been killed by bears, Ovidiu Ionescu, the president of the General Association of Sporting Hunters and Fishermen from Romania, previously stated.
Prof. Dr. Eng. Ovidiu Ionescu, vice dean of the Faculty of Forestry in Brașov, warns that the new tourist attraction is dangerous.
“It’s a lot of nonsense, a fed bear, it’s a dead bear. He gets used to the man, he is used to it, then he wants to take the food from the man when he sees him and attacks people. Tourists have nothing to do to feed the bears, get down and photograph them. They put themselves in danger, it’s enormous idiocy. They should be fined by the Gendarmerie, including those who sell such packages. The Gendarmerie should fine them, they have to give fines, but they told the Forestry Directorate that they don’t give them food, although the Ministry of the Environment told them not to give them food so as not to get used to them, so that they don’t multiply even more a lot.”, declared Ovidiu Ionescu for “The truth”.
Bears will associate humans with food, as they already do.
“It teaches them that humans are a source of food and they will go to humans for food, they know humans are feeding them and then sooner or later they will attack humans and have to be shot. Those who feed the bears also put people at risk, but practically condemn the bears to death as well.“, adds the specialist.
Moreover, such behavior does not even respect these animals, but encourages begging. Basically, the bears end up not being afraid of people anymore. “Absolute. Here we have arrived, because we have stopped hunting for eight years, they are no longer afraid of man. And I see man as a disabled animal that, after all, can be good to eat. That … why wouldn’t it be?“, Ovidiu Ionescu also said.
Recently, a 19-year-old woman died after being attacked by a bear on a mountain trail near the Buşteni resort in Prahova county.
It’s only a matter of time before another tragedy
Last weekend, a female bear with three cubs attacked foreign tourists who tried to take their pictures and offered them food.
Adrian Bîlbă, biologist, commented on the subject on Facebook: “The bear did nothing but increase the distance a little. Maybe the rangers should put food somewhere away from the roads and that way lure them out of harm’s way.”
“I went by bike through the forest last week, it was a bit crazy to keep whistling, shouting, but also when I saw Transfăgărășan the next day, I felt sorry for them. A solution must be found.“, wrote Adrian Bîlbă in the comments.
Although they seem like cute and harmless animals, especially when it comes to chickens, experts warn that tourists who approach are in danger. Fascinated by wild animals, they don’t realize that they are putting their lives on the line when they try to take selfies or feed the bears.
“The bear is a very strong and unpredictable animal. And cubs are dangerous, they are usually accompanied by mother bears, and if they think that the cub is in danger, of course, like any mother, they will defend their cubs”warned Ovidiu Ionescu.
In April, a woman from Scotland was bitten by a bear in the Vidraru Dam area. The 72-year-old woman, accompanied by a friend, tried to photograph two bears up close. After they rolled down the window for a better picture, a bear bit her arm. The victim was admitted to the Curtea de Argeș Municipal Hospital with wounds caused by the bear bite.
“I thought he wanted to be friends and eat. My friend told me to give her something to eat and I said no, you are not allowed to give food, absolutely nothing. I think the bear heard me and decided to eat it, to eat my friend“, the victim’s friend said at the time.
Over and over and through all kinds of channels, tourists are advised not to feed the bears, not to approach them, but “they are brave, they go to see, and then, when the bear takes them in its claws, they are surprised that it attacked“, points out the president of the General Association of Sport Hunters and Fishermen from Romania.
Stop feeding the bears
“Stop feeding the bears on Transfăgărășan. You do more good for the bears if you scare them away by honking your horn than if you give them food from your car for a picture. They have enough food in the forest, but being intelligent beings, they realized that they can get food more easily on the road than in the forest. This is the only explanation for their presence, in large numbers, on Transfăgărășan, exclusively during the tourist season and especially during the day, after 10 o’clock.”, Asociația Montană Vidraru emphasized, on Facebook, after this incident.
On Transfăgărășan, the bears have become a constant presence, attracted by tourists who offer them food and photograph them, although this is illegal. These animals, including bears with cubs, wait by the side of the road to be fed.
Law 54/2012, known as the Picnic Law, prohibits feeding wild animals, punishing the act with fines between 200 and 400 lei. However, there are requests for increased fines, given the increased danger posed by feeding bears, especially on Transfăgărășan. Local authorities in Arefu have implemented tougher penalties, with fines of up to 1,000 lei for those who feed or photograph wild animals from too close a distance.
The Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet, promised, as early as two months ago, that the bears on the edge of Transfăgărășan will be relocated to the Zărnești Sanctuary, stressing that the situation represents an imminent danger for both tourists and animals.
Despite the warnings and the law punishing bear feeding, tourists continue to break the rules. Enforcement of sanctions remains difficult, as the law requires the facts to be ascertained directly by agents.
