Romania wildlife holiday stay in wildlife hides

Planet

This hides are an initiative of Foundation Conservation Carpathia. The Carpathian Mountains form some of the largest contiguous forests on the continent with the highest percentage of virgin woodlands. They contain an extraordinarily high number of species, amongst them many autochthonous species, and they are home to the largest European populations of large carnivores.

FCC has been active in protecting and restoring forests on the south-eastern slopes of the Fagaras Mountains since 2009. The Foundation aims to create a world-class wilderness reserve in the Southern Romanian Carpathians, large enough to support significant numbers of large carnivores and to allow evolutionary processes to happen. The project consists of the wider Fagaras Mountains Natura 2000 site, Piatra Craiului National Park and Leaota Mountain and forms a total of over 250,000 ha. Guests are kindly asked to contribute with a voluntary donation to our CARPATHIA conservation project to help us with this work.

We think wilderness hides are a great way to explore the wilderness and wildlife without interfering with their natural behaviour and represent a long term alternative to trophy hunting. The activities we offer are focused on exploring the surrounding nature and its biodiversity, often going on roads and paths that are not part of touristic routs. We make sure all of our activities have a positive impact on the environment.

People

We employ people from the local community for the maintenance of the hides. We offer them a stable work place and good working conditions. We support them in learning more in their respective fields, be it woodwork, plumping or logistics.

We use mainly locally produced organic food in our kitchen. People in the valley, generally do not use pesticides or artificial fertilisers, and the livestock is still kept the old way: outside on the pastures. The markets in the surrounding towns deliver fresh onions, salad, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, berries, peas, beans, and many more vegetables and fruits. Other food such as milk, eggs, honey, potatoes, lamb, and veal is bought from the farmers in the valley. We want to make sure the whole community is involved and plan on developing a farmers network that will grow alongside our tourism activities.

During the summer we also often recommend guesthouses in the valley and we always include the opportunity to visit towns and mountain villages which helps further to support local businesses.