Danube's Delta.
Accomodation.
Flora.
Fauna.
Natural Reservation.



Danube's Delta.

At the end of the great river Danube's 2,860 km (1788 miles) journey from the Black Forest mountains in Germany to Romania's Black Sea coast a natural paradise spreads out. Over countless centuries the silt brought down bythe river has enlarged the Delta into a network of channels, lakes, reed isles, tropical woods, pastures and sand dunes that now cover nearly 5,640 sq km (2,200 sq miles).
The Danube Delta, the most low and the most recent plane region is situated in the east of the country, at the river mouth of the Danube in the Black Sea.
In the north region, beyond Chilia arm there is the Bugeac Plane, in the south and the south- east side of Dobrudja Tableland and in the east there is the Black Sea.
In the Danube Delta is also included the Razim Sinoe lagoon that has a cumulated area of 4.340 sguare kilometres. It is situated between Chilia arm to the centre of the Danube Delta and Sfantu Gheorghe arm to the south side.
Delta's inhabitants and the settlements have, because of the physic and geographic conditions, a lot of particularities. First of all, because of the large water area, the population density has low values, 25/50 inhabitants/sguare kilometres in the west side and under 25 inhabitants/sguare kilometre in the east side.
The population is concentrated in rural settlements, situated along the Danube arms; with linear aspect as Crisan or on the sand banks (Letea, Caraorman, Sfantu Gheorghe, Chilia Veche).
Other places are: Patlageanca, Maliuc, Mila23. In the rural settlements prevailed the fishing and agricultural activities.
The only town in The Danube Delta is Sulina (5.500 inhabitants). This is a free port-city (porto-franco) and works as a transshiping port. In short time this port will be arranged as a maritime one. In the town there is a fish can factory and fixing ship workshops.
Tulcea town is not situated in the Danube Delta, but co-ordinate the economical and touristic Delta activity.

Accommodation.

In Danube Delta you can choose from a wide list of relaxing and fun activities, wider than in other touristic places. Example : sun-bathing, sea baths, fishing, birdwatching, fauna and flora, excursions in Delta's forests, sand dunes can be visited, motor or rims boat excursions can be arranged,  nautical sports can be practiced, and also you can hunt.  
In Delta, there are several good touristic pensions and hotels. For the nature lovers accommodation can be made on floating hotels anchored in the most beautiful places from Danube Delta.
The main occupation of Danube Delta population is fishing. the fishermen continue to use the traditional fishing boats, which can go through tight channels, to reach the main lakes, some reaching around 5000 ha. The best way for those who want to discover the world of birds is to get closer by a fishing boat, because the birds are used to those and do not get scared. A true paradise for those who want to discover a savage nature, but also to taste a high quality fish, included in most of local menus, Danube Delta stays a true challenge for nature lovers.
Local fishermen make their own version of Russian bortsch over an open fire. At restaurants you can sample Danube herring, croquettes of zander, or sturgeon steak, tastly washed down with Aligote, Muscat or Merlot wines.
The tradition of sailing with small boats is kept, specially for tourists , and the excursions are lead by ex fishermen or young locals which know best the places in Danube Delta's wilderness. In summer-like period the tourists come in greater numbers to combine Delta sightseeing with sun-bathing on the Black Sea shore, because from any point of Delta , depending on the boat, in maximum an hour and a half - 2 hours, the sea can be reached. Sf. Gheorghe and Sulina are places exactly on the sea shore on Delta's margins.
In every way a Delta trip is a memorable experience.

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Flora.

In the Danube Delta the reed plot swamp vegetation is predominant and it covers about 78% of the total area.
The main species are: the reed, the burlush, the sedge, mixed with the gnome willow and another species. On the river soils there are willow, ash, alder tree, poplar forests recurrently flooded and developped on 6% of the total surface. These are specific to the delta and give the oneness of the landscape.
The bushes vegetation developped on marine plane sand or on the active marine shores extends only on 1% from the total surface. The aquatic vegetation in lakes, pools and backwaters cover 2% of the total delta.
Letea and Caraorman are marine plane forests, with brown oak (Quercus pedunculiflora), pedunculate oak (Q. robur), ash (Fraxinus angustifolia), trembling poplar (Populus tremula), elm (Ulmus foliacea) and with creeper plants (Periploca graeca, Vitis silvestris, Hedra helix). This represents only 0,8% from the total surface of the Danube Delta.
Reed (Phragmites australis) grows here under the best conditions, being higher and thicker. Besides reed, you can find here sedge mint, water fern (Nephrodium thelypteris), water hemlock, knotgrass, pygmy willow and the climbing plants.

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The Danube Delta has a rich and varied wildlife that includes unique species in Europe or in the world.
The aquatic fauna includes a lot of species of fish;sweet water fish, sea fish ( slumber, crucian carp, pike, bream) and sturgeons.
Birds. The Danube Delta offers very favourable conditions to those more than 300 species that gave it the fame of birds paradise. These birds are: the cormorant, the pelican, the mute swan, the singing swan, the red and white sheld duck, the white egret.
The law protects 10 species - some of them beeing declared monuments of nature. Another species protected can be devided thereby:
- white monuments - (with white plumage) - the common pelican and the curly one, the big egret, the mute swan, the singing swan;
- polychrome monuments - (with plumage coloured in black, green, yellow, brown, blue)
In the Danube Delta can be found the following mammals: the fox, the rabbit, the wild boar, the otter, the mink, and among reptiles: the pool turtle, the water snake.
The flora and the fauna of the Danube Delta has particularities that tranform the region in a monument of nature.

Natural Reservation.

Located in Romania, Danube's Delta is an unique natural reservation in Europe, full of natural life and animals, is listed as a UNESCO Reservation of the Biosphere because of its peculiar features and itsvariety of ecosystems (more than 25 types of natural ecosystems). It is considered to be the third in ecological significance among the 300 reserves of the world. There are 16 strictly protected areas in which no economical activities are allowed, areas for ecological rehabilitation and buffer zones between economical areas, where tourist activities are permitted as long as the environment is protected. It hosts over 1,200 varieties of plants, 300 species of birds, being the richest ornithological fauna on thecontinent, as well as 45 freshwater fish species in its numerous lakes and marshes. This is the place where millions of birds from different places of Earth (European, AsThe net of lakes, channels and brooks is the main line of communications in the Delta and a great place for boating, water sports and angling. Furtuna, Merhei, Babina, Matita, Gorgova, Uzlina, Lumina, Puiu, and Rosu are some of the most beautiful lakes. Channels such as Sireasa-Sontea, Eracle-Lopatna, Litcov, Dunavat, Lipovenilor lead to themost hidden and charming places in the Danube Delta. This is the place where luck smiles even to the most unlucky fishermen and where the finest lunch of all is a savory sturgeon and its black caviar).
If you want to see the wildlife in solitude and without disturbing it, take a rowing boat into the smaller channels. A permit issued by the reservation of the Biosphere is necessary for this purpose.

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