Bear watching in the Land of Volcanoes

I had the best experience watching the bears and 100% recommend this tour (said from a professional wildlife filmmaker) My guide, Andra, is super knowledgeable about the bears and is super enthusiastic about sharing this knowledge. The hide itself is great, as the big window and short distance to the bears allows great photography for professional equipment and phones alike. I was lucky enough to experience 5-6 bears for extended periods of time. And most importantly of all; I sensed a deep respect for the wild animals. This seems to be the best way to get an up close encounter with the bears without having a negative affect on their wild behaviour.

I visited Romania on a family trip, but I decided to go on this bear-watching excursion solo, as our 5-year-old was a bit too young to remain quiet (children under a certain age aren’t allowed). As an amateur photographer with a deep love for wildlife, I was really excited for the opportunity. The hide used for the excursion was developed by a professional photographer, and it’s clear that a lot of thought went into its design. It’s positioned very close to where the bears come to feed, offering an exceptional vantage point. The setting itself was absolutely stunning, especially in autumn with the golden, amber, and yellow leaves filling the trees around us. While it’s a bit of a long drive from Brașov, the journey is well worth it. Our guide, Andra, was incredibly knowledgeable. She shared fascinating insights about bear biology, as well as the efforts being made by both the government and local communities to protect these magnificent creatures while ensuring public safety.

It was an excellent experience. Our guide picked us up from our hotel in Brasov and we went to a beautiful forest to meet the ranger and the rest of the guests from other companies. We hiked for almost 400 meters to find the hide, which was designed by a wildlife photographer, so as someone can take photos from the bear level. We are wildlife photographers and this hide was the best choice for us. We stayed there almost 2 hours and two bears showed up, staying there for a long, in fact until we left the place. Because we ended up late it was very risky to go to the city searching for a restaurant that would still serve food, so our guide found for us one in the old city of Brasov that was open until late and took us there. This hide is very busy but when anyone stays quiet, everything is ok. On the other hand it is worth to say that we communicated with Irina a couple of weeks before so as to be sure that the tour was what we were looking for, and she was always available, providing us any info we needed.