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“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” –Mark Jenkins

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Carpathian Brown Bear photography in Transylvania - 75 days to go!

Located at the base of the Hargita Mountains in Transylvania
near the town of Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc).
It was installed in the quiet valley in September 2012.
Next trip is booked and approaching fast. For years my list of images-to-capture-before-I-die has included Brown bears fishing in the shallows for Salmon as they make their treacherous journey upstream to spawn. However, the majority of the photographic Bear safari tours around at the moment are not only ludicrously expensive, but nearly always combine bears with whale-watching... now much as I think Orcas are awesome, the thought of clinging to the side of a moving boat in the freezing cold with icy winds whipping the sea into a frenzy whilst frantically scanning the horizon for a brief glimpse of a fin for hours on end really doesn't thrill me. I'm not a sea-faring photographer at all and prefer my tripod to be firmly on terra-firma. So a friend and I have opted instead for a trip to the Hargita Mountains in Romania to spend 5 days in this purpose built bear-hide hoping to capture the Carpathian Brown bear on camera, and if the gods be smiling on us, maybe a Wolf or two (although I will be more than happy if I just manage to hear a wolf at some point in my life.

Started to read Dreaming of Wolves by Alan E. Sparks. which is a diary of a guy tracking Wolves through the forests of Romania and recently watched a film called "Druid Peak" (Marni Zelnick) on a similar topic, but it is set in Yellowstone in Wyoming, USA and so I guess I now have 75 days to get my head into Brown Bears of Transylvania and put the idea of Wolves down for a while.

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