A day in the Danube Delta

White-tailed eagle, with 10 foot wingspan

                          

cormorants drying their wings

Today we spent the day cruising on a motorboat through the endless channels, rivers and lakes of the Danube Delta, a vast area of 600 lakes and 850 miles of rivers and channels where the mighty Danube meets the Black Sea.

beginning our day on a small channel

This is an area full of birds.  We saw the beautiful white-tailed eagle, which feeds on fish, many pelicans, about to leave for North Africa, cormorants sunning themselves to dry their wings, seagulls of many species swooping over the water, egrets and herons, plus numerous smaller birds that populate this watery region. 

The vegetation is varied, from willows to reeds and beautiful fields of lilies spreading across the water.  Many buildings have thatched roofs made from the large supply of reeds.  

field of yellow lilies

Wild horses, a variety of snakes, jackals and domesticated cattle and donkeys also live here.  This is a region where fishing reigns supreme and people live in small communities, some completely isolated on the many islands of the Delta, accessible only by boat.  We visited one of these islands to see the interesting eco-system there.  The island is all sand, though it is now mostly a protected area where dead vegetation is being allowed to decay and form soil.  There are barren areas with a few scrubby marsh grasses and dense forests of oaks, poplars and alders.  During the rainy season, the river rises, flooding large parts of the island.

island farmer with hay for his cattle

The small town where we had lunch in a restaurant owned by a very enterprising woman is extremely poor.  The 200 inhabitants are Ukrainian, speaking both Ukrainian and Romanian, worshipping at a Ukrainian Orthodox church, living with electricity but no running water and living off their few cattle, tourists who visit in the summer, and their backyard gardens.  They have some cars, brought by ferry or barge from Tulcea, the nearest Delta city.  But, life is very hard, so the young people leave for better conditions and jobs elsewhere in Romania or the European Union.  A nurse staffs the clinic 8 hours a day, which is pretty remarkable given the tiny population.  For the really sick or badly injured, it is a multi-hour boat ride or, in extreme need, a helicopter flight to the nearest hospital.  Mostly, when someone is sick, she goes to the local priest for help.

fishing house along a river

People were fishing everywhere, from the banks of the channels and from boats.  They were using fishing poles and nets to catch carp and catfish, not my favorite fish to eat, but it’s extremely popular here.  Every tiny opening in the reeds and forest had campers with tents, cars and fishing poles.  There are even some fishing cabins where full-time fishermen spend the week, returning home on week-ends.  Our guide grabs his nets and rushes out on his fishing boat to fish even after a long day showing tourists the wonders of the Delta.

I am going to post photos of the beautiful birds we saw.  There are 5400 species of plants and animals, including insects, here.  We were late enough that there were no mosquitos to feed on us.  We were also late enough to wrap ourselves in all our clothes to stave off the chilly wind, whereas summer visitors brave heat as high as 130 degrees F.

white pelican taking off

egret in flight

2 pelicans about to head south

w

grey heron

tern in lilies