Danube Delta
The Danube Delta as we know it is disappearing
by Paul Wood
October 2005
 |
Said conservationist Silviu Petrovan when he
took this picture: ‘This very large swan was vigilantly guarding
his family and thought I was a hunter. He waited until his family
was out of range, then flew in the opposite direction, to deflect
my attention from the younger swans and offer himself as a sacrifice.’ |
Tourism is the world’s largest industry. It is to our age what iron
and steel were to the Victorians. According to some estimates one tenth
of the world’s population earn livelihoods from tourism. It has transformed
the economies of a score of developing countries and will one day transform
Romania’s. It has also transformed the landscapes of the countries
in question and not for the better.
For the time being Romania is one of the last countries in Europe where
patrician tourism of a kind that our grandfathers knew is still the norm.
‘Agrotourism’, putting up with peasants or at small pensions,
is still the only way to see Romania’s many undeveloped attractions:
the Saxon churches of Transylvania, the painted monasteries of Bucovina
and Maramures. Until this year when the first de luxe hotel opened agorotourism
was the only way to see the Danube Delta. It is still easily the most rewarding
and memorable.
The waters of the Danube, which flow into the Black Sea, form the most remarkable and (after the Volga) the second largest of Europe’s deltas. It is the third most important nature reserve in the world (the Coral Reef is first). The Danube Delta hosts over 300 species of birds as well as 45 freshwater fish species in its numerous lakes and marshes. From a botanical point of view the Delta is equally remarkable and travellers (the word tourist seems misplaced) can enjoy landscapes of water lillies, reeds in endless profusion, willow, poplars, alder groves, flocks of swans, pelicans and wild ducks and geese, creepers and many kinds of trees. The reservation covers more than 2,600 square miles comprising channels and canals widening into tree-fringed lakes, reed islands, numerous lakes and marshes, oak forests intertwined with lianas and creepers, sand dunes and traditional fishing villages.
The Delta is a labyrinth of inlets and rivulets and the only means of getting about is by boat. The gateway to the Delta is the handsome port of Tulcea. From there the visitor en route to stay in some village or hamlet on an island has two options: to be met by speedboat (it feels like a scene from a thriller as you are transported at great speed through the extraordinarily beautiful landscape) or to take one of the slow, crowded post-boats which provide the only public transport in the area. The latter is the best way to see the beauties of the Delta at leisure. And not only are the views incomparable but the passengers add the human element which completes the scene.
The absence of cars and the absence of hurry are two attractions of the place. Another is the interesting communities that are to be found amongst the 15,000 inhabitants of the Delta. Amongst them are the Lipoveni, Russian ‘Old Believers’ who fled from Catherine the Great and found refuge in what was then part of Ottoman Turkey to practice their version of the Orthodox religion. Today in a number of villages in the Delta an eighteenth century dialect of Russian is the first language of the inhabitants. Daily Mass in the Old Believer churches keeps alive their form of worship.
Fishing is the main source of livelihood for the inhabitants of the Delta and the main reason why outsiders visit. In the past sturgeon was available in large supplies and ridiculously cheap. All that has changed now and the fish stocks of the area were dangerously overfished. In the 1990s the UNESCO Danube Biosphere Reservation was created to prevent overfishing. Cheap caviar is now a thing of the past. The Reservation is a vital breeding ground for numerous endangered species of birds and fish.
Shortly after Tulcea the Danube is divided in three river branches before it flows into the sea: Chilia, Sulina and Sfantu Gheorghe. Sulina is the most touristed and boasts some fine places to stay where local families provide excellent food. But for those who want to leave the beaten track altogether Sfantu Gheorghe is the wildest and least visited of the three.
In the future tourist development may pose problems for the Delta. At the moment overfishing, pollution and the vast accumulation of rubbish are problems enough (in particular an endless series of empty plastic bottles scarcely adds to the beauty of the scene).
But the biggest challenge to the area is the Bystre Canal, on which Ukraine started work in 2004 intending to provide a navigable link from the Black Sea to the Ukrainian section of the Danube Delta. The EU has condemned the plan and Romania intends to sue Ukraine in the International Court of Justice. The price will be the destruction of the breeding grounds for hundreds of species of birds including several globally threatened ones. It remains to be seen what will be the outcome of this story. Whatever the ending the Delta will never be so interesting or as undiscovered as it is today.