Cornelia Dörr – Transylvania, Romania I

October 5th
After having travelled two days from Chemnitz, my husband Ramon and I arrived in Transylvania October 5, 2008. On this day we had an appointment with Christoph Promberger in Sinca Noua. The wildlife biologist from Munich had been the head of the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project for ten years, the biggest research and protection project about large carnivores in Eastern Europe. We were very curious about getting to know him and had high photographic expectations because in the Romanian Carpathians live one third of all wolves and lynx and 50% of all brown bears in Europe (outside Russia).
Our hopes – being able to photograph wild animals apart from landscapes – were directly dashed by Christoph. Even though there is a raised hide in a private area where brown bears are fed, we didn’t get the possibility to take photos there. We met the responsible forest ranger and showed him all our documents but unfortunately we didn’t get permission to work there on such short notice.

October 6th to 8th
During the next days we concentrated completely on photographing landscapes. Chrisoph had shown us some places on the map which could be rather interesting for us. On the way to the Piatra Craiului National Park we took time for the fascinating cultural places with their traditional farming life. Here time seemed to be conserved like 100 years ago. This is how life could have been like in our area too.
Small fields, meadows and natural spaces like pastures on which shepherds wander about with their flocks through the mountains, are the results of the traditional cultivation of hundreds of years. This kind of cultivation brings out an enormous biological variety. The horse-drawn carriage with which nearly everything is transported is still a present means of transport in the villages. In the mornings and evenings the herdsmen guide the cows from the meadows through the village. Here time is a dimension that doesn’t play any role.
Since the beginning of 2007 the Balkan state is a member of the EU and it will be interesting to see how the country develops. The question is how long the traditional farmers can survive in the modern EU-times with their sustainable cultivation that has been proved by generations. This is a striking contrast to the rapid economic growth that you can feel in the cities with their booming western modern life.

Please note that blogs reflect our photographers' opinions and not necessarily those of the directors of Wild Wonders of Europe.