One-day trips to the Danube Delta.

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What is the Danube Delta? The Danube, with an impressive length of 2,780 km, is the second largest river in Europe, after the Volga. For Romanians, the Danube is responsible for one of the most beautiful destinations in our country – the Danube Delta. How did the Danube Delta form? The short answer is that it formed at the mouth of the Danube into the Black Sea, progressively extending due to the alluvium brought by the Danube. The Delta developed over time, starting somewhere during the Ice Age. This period of formation is known as the pre-deltaic period, and the most well-known “souvenir” of this period is the loess deposits in the Caraorman and Letea areas. Eventually, the Danube’s alluvial activity transformed the area into what we now know as the Danube Delta.

The Danube Delta is full of attractions and extraordinary landscapes. It’s worth spending a few good months exploring this true treasure of our country. But if you don’t have this time, a few days are enough!

Letea Forest, the Sulina arm, and Mile 23 are all well-known attractions in Romania, which you have certainly heard of.

Letea Forest, also known as the “Delta Jungle”, is one of the few places in Europe where wild horses live, and it is a sight and experience to remember. Located in the north of the Delta, Letea is a fascinating nature reserve, where we find climbing plants of all types and varied fauna.

Mile 23 is the name of a small rustic village, accessible only by sea, which truly embodies life and community in the Delta. Mile 23 is not just a place to rest after a long journey, but an experience not to be missed.

Along the Sulina Arm, we find one of the most beautiful and cleanest wild beaches in Romania. With fine sands, colored in places by wild vegetation, and with a relatively low water level, it is worth spending at least a day at the beach with your loved ones.

Lake Razim (or Razem) is full of wild flora and fauna and gives you the impression that you have traveled somewhere far away. It seems impossible that such beauty exists so close to you. And yet it does. With its lagoons and limans that you can explore until you get enough, Lake Razim is the perfect destination to disconnect a little.

Trips in the Danube Delta – What can we see?

But we seem to have talked enough generalities. After all, these attractions are all over the Internet, so now, we will tell you what beautiful places in the Delta you can see with us.

Currently, Royal Cruises offers three routes that aim to explore the Danube Delta far and wide, so when you return from one of our trips, you will pass as a small expert among your friends.

Route I – Bird Colony (1.5 hours)

A short route for those of you who do not have the necessary time to spend a whole day in the Delta. The “Bird Colony” route explores the diverse fauna and flora present in the Delta.

The journey begins along Canal 36, which connects the Chilia and Tulcea arms. Canal 36 is an area often frequented by fishermen, as the water there is full of catfish, carp, and crucian carp.

Then follows the Trofilca Canal, known for its rich bird population. Trofilca Canal is a small canal, accessible exclusively by boat or launch. Winding through a forest, the Trofilca Canal is similar to a swamp, rather. Here we begin to discover the typical flora and fauna of the Delta, and although Trofilca is a small area, whose crossing does not take long, it remains imprinted in the traveler’s memory through the special landscapes.

From here we enter Lake Cotețe, with the goodwill of the water, where we find one of the richest bird colonies in Romania, rich especially in cormorants. Here we will meet the Great Cormorant and the Little Cormorant, the Little Egret, the Glossy Ibis, the Yellow Heron, and the Night Heron. Also, on Lake Cotețe we find the Night Heron, the Jackdaw, and the Spoonbill.

What animals live in the Danube Delta?

There are numerous reasons why the Danube Delta is worth visiting. Some of us get there for the sake of fish and fishing, others simply out of a desire to discover Romania better, and others are attracted by the rich fauna present in the Delta.

In the Danube Delta, depending on the area you choose to explore, you can meet over 44 species of mammals, including: muskrat, rabbit, mink, otter, and nutria. In the marshier areas, you can expect to meet a wild boar, a ferret, a deer, or a fox. Even in some areas, we even meet jackals and wild cats. Although the area used to host wolves, once, they have not been seen in the Delta for some time.

Of course, we cannot overlook the wild horses in the Letea forest, one of the few areas in Europe where we still find such a thing.

Another distinguished presence in the Danube Delta is bats, although they are harder to meet on a trip to the Delta because they have a nocturnal lifestyle.

In the Danube Delta, near the mouths of the rivers, we can even see dolphins. Currently, no less than 3 species of dolphin have been recorded, one of which (Delphinus delphis) is threatened.

Rarely, in the Delta, we can also meet the white-bellied seal. And of course, the domestic animals of the inhabitants, such as cows, pigs, sheep or goats, are not missing.

What birds can be found in the Danube Delta?

One of the main reasons why so many people travel to the Danube Delta year after year is the rich bird population in the area. Indeed, the Danube Delta is a fabulous destination for bird-watching enthusiasts, as it has an extremely diverse fauna.

In the Delta, we can encounter both “common” birds as well as rare or even threatened species. In total, the Delta is home to over 320 species of birds, the vast majority of which are aquatic birds.

Most of the aquatic birds in the Delta nest there, and 60 species are just “passing through.”

In the Delta, we find a true abundance of sedentary birds, which allows us to observe them well even from a boat or a canoe. Among these are herons, storks, seagulls, woodpeckers, sandpipers, wagtails, spoonbills, egrets, gray herons, the famous Danube falcons, and wagtails.

We can also see the hoopoe, woodpecker, corn bunting, great tit, sparrow, white-tailed eagle, spoonbill, night heron, water rail, coot, bittern, common pelican, as well as the Dalmatian pelican, white stork, tufted duck, black-headed gull, red-breasted goose, crane, and greylag goose (coming from the Arctic region).

Of course, the areas populated by humans also have more “common” species such as sparrows, great tits, blackbirds, woodpeckers, lesser spotted eagle, and hoopoes. These are especially popular in the Letea forest area (where we also encounter numerous wild horses).

If you want to encounter a large colony of birds, you can expect colonies of seagulls, pelicans, cormorants, herons, spoonbills, terns, avocets, and black-winged stilts. The Roșca-Buhaiova area, fully protected by law, is the “host” of the largest mixed bird colony in the entire deltaic area.

So we advise enthusiasts to head towards the Roșca-Buhaiova area. Although it cannot be accessed directly, we can approach it by boat or canoe from Lake Merhei (as much as possible, legally). Here, we can witness colonies of pelicans, herons, and other birds in the area, feeding on the shore.