How safe is the bear watching activity?

Bears are very cautious wild animals and they will run away at the slightest sound or movement. They don’t attack people, unless they feel threatened. We will recommend you to stay as quiet as possible, to maximize your chances of seeing brown bears or even other wild animals: wolves, lynx, wild boar, deer, fox or even marten. The bear hides we use are very safe and specially placed in strategic viewing points to offer you the best viewing quality.

What types of bears can we see?

Bear Watching Tusnad 24.04.2019 DSC_0083 small

 

In Romania, the bears populating the Carpathian Mountains are brown bears (Ursus arctos arctos).

When does the bear sighting tour start?

We start our tours near Brasov, late afternoon, at 4 PM or 5 PM, depending on the time of the year.
For the tours farther away we leave Brasov between 2 PM and 4 PM (again depending of the period of the year)

What is the best time of the year to see the bears?

Bear watching in Tusnad

We run our bear watching trips from mid-March to late October, but the best time of the year is from May to September.  

How long is the bear watching tour?

Near Brasov, the trip takes about 3 hours, including the trip from your accommodation to the bear spotting place and back. In other areas, it takes about 5 hours from the moment we pick you up until we get back to Brasov. Usually, we stay in the bear hide for about 2 hours.

How do we get to the bears?

We can pick you up from your accommodation in Brasov in an air-conditioned vehicle but you are also welcome to meet us at our office, located in the city center, at No.3 Politehnicii street. We can also start the trip form here. Once we reach the edge of the forest, we can enjoy an easy 15-20 minutes walk to the observatory.

How close do we get to the bears?

Bear watching tour in Romania

Let us kindly rephrase your question: how close are the bears getting to us? Well, we’ve seen bears as close as two meters away!! But before you get too scared please note that we, and our guests, were behind a one-side mirror window, so we could see the bears, but they couldn’t see us. 

Can I take photos and videos of the brown bears?

Of course! Feel free to take amazing shots of these majestic animals. As long as you don’t use flash and remember to turn off the focus assist light, they will be perfect subjects. From our experience, we recommend a 70-200 mm lens but a longer one can be even better. Keep in mind that the ISO values can be high, so choose a lens that allows more light.

Can I use a drone for bear watching?

As we already stated, bears will run away at the smallest sound, so they will definitely run away if they hear a drone lurking around.

How early should we reserve our trip?

While we accept bookings up to several hours before the trip, you should know that during high season, tours tend to sell out, so we recommend booking at least a few days in advance.

How many bears are in the Carpathian Mountains?

An estimated population of 8000 bears populate the Carpathians. Out of this Romania shelters the biggest part, with most estimations ranging between 6000 and 7000 bears

Why see bears in the wild, not a sanctuary?

While seeing the brown bears in a sanctuary is definitely interesting, that is not their natural habitat. All the bears in the sanctuary know each other, are fed daily with all the food they need and some of the bears in the sanctuary were abused in animal circuses or illegal zoos. So sometimes they don’t behave like wild animals. We are taking you in the wild, in the forests around Brasov, in specially built hides, to see these majestic animals in their natural habitat. There are no fences around, the bears are roaming free and sometimes, we get to see them on the way back.

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