Volunteering with bears in Romania

Reviewed 01 Nov 2011 by Martin Sausins

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Meeting the bears.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Keep an open mind about the work you will be doing. Learn some Romanian would be helpful.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Yes if you take into account that we spent money in restaurants etc - hopefully contributed to the local economy. I think the work we carried out released others to do other valuable work in the sanctuary and hopefully the bears benefited.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

A great experience meeting and working with majestic animals in some beautiful countryside.

Reviewed 09 Oct 2010 by Cathy Bisset

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Romania is a beautiful spectacular country, so from the moment I was travelling from Bucharest to Brasov I knew that I had come to a really excellent destination. I was very impressed by the people who run the sanctuary on a daily basis particularly Laci & Emi and Mateusz our driver! Also Razvan the guide from the operator who was around to show us (myself and another volunteer) some sites like Dracula's castle!

The bears were fantastic to see, so many and all different, there were also about 20 rescue dogs who were really friendly and brightened up the daily tasks, also a little stray cat Shim was doing her bit by visiting the volunteer flat! Brasov is a nice city to be in a complete contrast to Edinburgh which always seemed hectic or stressed, this was laid back with lots of cafes and restaurants and most people spoke English, the weather was fine, the views were fantastic, there was plenty to see as we travelled around, birds of prey, interesting architecture and people!

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

I had no preconceived ideas about the trip, but I had done some research into the history of Romania and the bear sanctuary which helped to prepare me, I packed away a couple of pairs of washing up gloves! My main tips would be the money is in lei not Euros! Bring some clothes to wear to go to places in the evening. Its important to realise that you are at someone else's place of work and be prepared to do what is required, I would say having experience of conservation work would be an advantage but not a necessity but you have to go with the flow, which could include collecting boxes of food, sorting out meat and fruit for the bears and feeding the bears, I was only there for 2 weeks, although I am glad I went I think if its possible 1 month or more would be worth doing. I do want to go back maybe next year or the year after.

Anything you may need you can buy in Brasov. Get in touch with EHIC before you go! All the other volunteers I met from USA and Australia had expensive rabies injections, but EHIC told me they were not necessary and they sent me a card in case I needed medical help with anything.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

I think that any project that brings people to Brasov is beneficial because Romania does seem to have a bad reputation and when people visit they can make up there own mind and maybe recommend Romania to other people. Although I wouldn’t say as an individual you make an impact on the economy but as a project it probably makes some difference.

The fact that the volunteers are helping take food that otherwise would be disgarded to the bears where it is used is reducing waste. I would like to think that the volunteers help the local people who work at the sanctuary by giving them more time to work away on sanctuary projects and thus improving the sanctuary.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

I would say it was a fantastic holiday and I am definitely feeling now that I am back home in Edinburgh that I would like to go back, sure there isn't a Tescos, but you can't have everything! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to experience this type of holiday, its not too faraway from Britain and I didn’t feel that I was in a really foreign country, the food is very nice, you can eat quite well from the supermarket or go to restaurants and you get very good service and food.