WHY DANUBE DELTA ?

Tours in Danube Delta:

Hiking & Birdwatching

Holidays in Danube Delta

Short Active Tour

Because it

·   is the only delta in the world being declared a reserve of our biosphere

·   has he largest area with compact reed formations in the world

·   has a surface of 580 000 ha (approx. 2239 mi²) - 2,5 % of Romania 's surface (The   22 nd delta in the world and the 3 rd delta in Europe, after  Volga and Kuban )

·   is one of the worldwide largest wetlands , especially a waterfowl habitat

·   is a real natural open-air museum of biodiversity, which includes 30 types of ecosystems

·   is a natural genetic bank with incalculable value for the worldwide natural heritage

·   is the place where you can see and shoot pictures of 325 species of birds

·   hosts 3448 fauna species: mollusk - 86 species , insects - 2219 species , fishes - 125 species ,  amphibians - 10 species , reptiles - 11 species ,  mammals - 42 species

· hosts 1689 flora species

·   hosts 60% of the world's population of pygmy cormorant ( Pelicanus pygmeus ) as well as the largest European population of common pelican ( Pelecanus onocrotalus ) and dalmatian pelican ( Pelecanus crispus )

·   is the winter area for 50 % of the world population of red breasted goose ( Branta ruficollis)

The Danube flows through 10 countries ( Germany , Austria , Slovakia , Hungary , Croatia , Serbia , Bulgaria , Romania , Moldova , and Ukraine ) and 4 European capital cities: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade.

Other useful info:

The Danube Delta is situated in the eastern part of Romania , next to the Black Sea . There the Danube river created on an old estuary a delta. Nowadays it has 3 main arms: Chilia (in the north) Sulina (in the middle), and Sfantu Gheorghe (Saint George).The largest one is Chilia (60% of the water).

Around 15,000 people live in the Delta. Most of them make their living upon fishing with their traditional wooden boats (lotca) . It includes a community of Lipovans which are descendants of the Old Rite Followers who left Russia in 1772 to avoid religious persecutions. At the end of 19th century the population of the Danube Delta was 12,000 inhabitants and before the second world war the population was about 14,000 inhabitants. In DDBR the human communities are grouped in 25 human settlements (a town - Sulina) with a total population of 14,583 inhabitants in 2002, from which 68.5 % in rural settlements and 31.5 % in Sulina.

Since ancient times, fishing has been the main occupation of the inhabitants of the Danube Delta. Although nowadays the fish supply is diminished and quality alterations occurred, fishing still represents the core occupation. Well known fish trading places are: Crisan, Mila 23, Gorgova, and Sfântu Gheorghe (the last mentioned is also involved in sea fishing).

The second main occupation with great extension has been (and still is) sheep and cattle breeding , which, from a temporary condition (being practiced by the shepherds coming there with their flocks in wintertime from the Eastern Carpathians and the Moldavian Tableland), became a permanent occupation in the last decades of the 19 th century. The localities with traditions in cattle breeding are Letea, Periprava, C.A.Rosetti, Sfistofca and Caraorman.  

Traditional agriculture has been practiced successfully by the inhabitants of those localities which have good supplies of arable land: Chilia, Pardina, Plaur, Salceni, Ceatalchioi and Patlageanca, all working on alluvial soils of the riverine levees with a low risk of inundation.

Owing to poor soils (sandy soils) agriculture has been practiced to a lesser extend on the marine levees of Letea and Caraorman.

After 1960, these traditional occupations of fishing and agriculture were drastically modified by extending reed exploitation (abandoned later on), fish ponds and large agricultural and forestry polders.

Since the 15th century , the Danube Delta was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1812 , following the Russo-Turkish War the borders of Ottoman and Russian Empires were set by Kilia and Old Stambul Channels of Danube, and in 1829 by Georgievsky Channel. The Treaty of Paris of 1856 which ended the Crimean War , Danube Delta together with two districts of Southern Bessarabia was included in the Principality of Moldavia and was established an international commission which made a series of works to help navigation. In 1859, it became part of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia . In 1878 , following the defeat of Ottoman Empire from Russia and Romania , the border between those two was set again by Kilia and Old Stambul Channels.