Bear watching in Romania

When visiting the largest bear population in Europe, the question arises: Who is actually watching whom here?

It was a little more adventurous than we had imagined. Janos Szin, known as the bear herder, picked us up in his car and took us to the observation point. He carries a revolver on his belt and will later show us photos on his smartphone of him and his son posing right next to a bear.

When Janos parks the car, a bear is already standing about twenty meters from the observation hut. It's only a few steps from the car to the hut - but I still feel a little uneasy, especially because we're traveling with our then 7-year-old daughter. The bear is watching us carefully, she seems to know exactly what will happen now. After Janos drives into the clearing in the car and puts out the food, he comes to us in the observation hut and gives us a plum schnapps.

While the bear is still eating the grains, Janos suggests that they could visit the hunting lodge of the former dictator Ceaușescu, which is not far away. Yes, exactly, Nicolae Ceaucescu, the Romanian dictator who liked to have people shot and himself liked to shoot bears. So get out of the hut again, walk past the bear to the hunting lodge and back again. Janos' instructions: Walk in single file, don't stand still, don't stare at the bear. The bear has now laid down and is now eating while lying down. She keeps an eye on us, but doesn't allow herself to be disturbed any further.

Several thousand bears live in the Carpathians

Romania is home to the largest population of European brown bears (Ursus arctos arctos) in Europe, depending on the source there are between 5000 and 8000 animals.

Nevertheless, you will hardly come across a bear while hiking in the forests, because bears avoid people. However, there are still various options for travelers who want to experience bears. In some places in the forests, gamekeepers or foresters put out corn and other plant food for the bears. In some of these places observation huts were built for tourists and (amateur) photographers. Mirror glasses are installed in the huts. That means we see the bears, the bears don't see us. But even if they don't see us, they perceive people through their sense of smell and hearing. Bear noses are Incredibly powerful, they have a much better sense of smell than dogs.

​Bear and human

According to official information, there were 154 bear attacks on people in Romania between 2016 and 2021, 14 of which were fatal. The spectrum ranges from self-inflicted attacks in which people took young bears out of their dens to sell them as circus bears, to accidents in forests and villages. One of the challenges is the ever-increasing loss of habitat. A lot of forest area is being cleared legally and illegally in the Romanian Carpathians. Accordingly, the bears visit settlement areas more frequently in search of food. Tourists who feed bears are also part of the problem. Bears generally avoid people. Things can get tricky if you surprise a bear; encounters with mother bears in particular can end badly. But: European brown bears do not attack because they are aggressive, but because they believe they have to protect themselves from danger. Anyone traveling in bear territory should always make themselves known so that the bear has the opportunity to avoid people.

Flyer "Correct behavior in bear areas" the Euronatur Foundation

The European brown bear - a vegetarian?

A bear's life can be quite stressful. The bears spend up to 16 hours a day depending on the season and the availability of food Foraging. European brown bears eat meat, but the majority of their diet is vegetarian. All in all, they have similar culinary preferences to us. They also find the lettuce patch in the front yard or the beekeeper's honey hives attractive. Unlike us, they don't disdain waste or cat food left outside. Villages and towns are places for bears to potentially get food. But when bears come into the villages, things can become dangerous. That is why bear feeding is carried out in the forests.

Feeding bears - a good idea?

The basic rule applies: never feed wild animals, because this causes them to change their behavior and lose their natural fear of people. For example, you are not doing a favor to a fox that you feed. He will lose his fear of people and that will be fine until the next hunting season begins. In addition, animals that are fed can develop aggressive behavior towards people if they are not offered food for a while. “Keep it wild” is the motto. In Romania and Slovenia, bear feeding is carried out by foresters and game wardens in order to keep bears in the forests as much as possible. This is intended to avoid encounters with people in the villages and thus potential human-wildlife conflicts.

The second observation lodge is about a fifteen minute drive from Hargita Bear Lodge(more about the lodge below). After the food has been laid out, we are prepared for a longer wait. But it doesn't take long before three young bears storm into the clearing. The mother of the three is known to the guides as “the nervous one”. No wonder, since she has to look after three young ones. The bear is alert. Male bears, for example, pose a danger. It happens that these young animals kill in order to produce their own offspring with the mother.

At the end it gets adventurous again. As dusk falls, we head to the car. At this hut the path is a little longer and leads through the forest. We march in single file and somehow no one seems to want to march at the end of the line. We walk quickly, no one speaks, when the bear's sounds pierce the falling night twice. I feel observed. The nervous one doesn't seem to be far away, and luckily the vehicle isn't either.

Recommended tour providers

You should be careful when choosing a tour provider. There are many dubious providers who, for example, hang chocolate in the trees so that the animals climb the trees. As a tourist you should not support such circus activities. Feeding wild animals is a delicate matter and belongs in the hands of professionals.

The observation huts that I can recommend are located in the north of Romania in the Transylvania region. A good starting point for a trip to the bears is the pretty town of Brasov. The supposed Dracula castle is also easy to reach from there. However, the historical Vlad Dracul apparently never stayed there, but that's another story.

Hargita Bear Lodge

The owner of the lodge is Zoltán Baczó, the regional forester. The lodge has simple, practical and clean rooms, and in the evenings the mother cooks regional specialties. The lodge is also a good address for (amateur) ornithologists. Photo: Copyright Zoltán Baczó

• Where: Sub Cetate in the Hargita Mountains in northern Romania (five hours drive from Bucharest, two and a half hours drive north of Brasov.

• Contact: https://www.hargitabearlodge.com/#contact

Janos Szin/Hides by Bence Mathe

The observation huts built by Bence Mathé, the Hungarian professional photographer and wildlife photographer of the year, are also recommended. We were with Janos Szin, the bear herder, on the way.

Bence Mathé's observation hut

• Where: Baile Tusnad (Almost three hours' drive from Bucharest, 70 minutes' drive from Brasov)

​Note to amateur wildlife photographers: Don't make the same mistake I did. Although I mentioned that I would be taking photos, I ended up in normal sightseeing hides twice. There are other hides and adjusted times for photographers – whenever the lighting conditions are ideal. In addition, some of the huts are built in such a way that you can take photos at eye level. For us, the clearing at the second hide was already in the shadows when we arrived. It was correspondingly difficult to take attractive photos.

​The Wild Moments Rating

(Maximum 5 stars)

How wild was it?

3 to 4 stars

Ultimately, the observation huts are a feeding situation. We do experience wild bears, but the encounter is artificially created. This is not comparable to bear watching on foot, as you can experience in Alaska, for example (still on my bucket list). So more like three stars. But if, as in our case, you encounter a bear on foot, we get four stars.

What are the chances of success?

4.5 stars

As this is a feeding situation, there is a very high chance of seeing bears, but there is no guarantee. But hey, we are in nature, if you want a 100% chance, go to the zoo to visit prisoners.

How suitable for families is the activity?

3 stars

The children should be old enough to sit quietly or otherwise occupy themselves - but quietly - for two hours. Our then 7-year-old daughter found it very exciting at the beginning, but after a while she got a little bored ("Daddy, will the bears eat for a long time?"). Because we were traveling with a child, for safety reasons I chose observation huts where there were no long distances to walk. Nevertheless, we had bear encounters outside of the hide. Not all parents will find that exciting.

How sustainable is the activity?

4 stars

Feeding is permitted and, according to a forester, the amount of food is too small to fundamentally change the bears' behavior. They are not done because of the tourists. The goal is to reduce bear encounters in the villages and thus human-wildlife conflicts. Fewer conflicts between bears and humans are likely to benefit bear acceptance in the long term. In addition, bear watching has now developed into a lucrative tourism industry. This can help ensure that bears are better protected. But: The rating only applies to the providers I recommend. There are some black sheep who turn animal encounters into a circus.