As part of my second year university module, we were required to plan an ‘expedition’ of our choice, with specific aims wherever we saw fit and affordable. Our aim was to see and photograph Wild Bears. Not baited, but wild in the sense that they had very little contact with humans. So I flew out to meet my team mates (Dan, Paul, Ryan and Rob) who had driven overland in a 4x4 to Bucharest, Romania in May 2012. Once we had found each other and rested, we journeyed northwest to Ojdula - a peaceful Hungarian gypsy village, North of Brasov, deep in the wilderness off the Carpathian Mountains.
It was a pretty village, full of sound, but the residents clearly didn’t know what to make of us. They stared wherever we went. Our accommodation was situated directly above a pub. Pints worth the equivalent of 30p; excellent.
We were working alongside a charity; the TWP (Transylvania Wildlife Project) who had agreed to escort us around in search of our target in exchange for a promotional video. Of course, we obliged.
The Carpathians are the last remains of vast virgin forests in Europe and are still capable of supporting good numbers of native wildlife, including large carnivores that have otherwise been forced to near extinction in Western Europe. Brown Bears, Wolves and Lynx all thrive there but despite folklore, the latter two pose no threat to humans and typically remain elusive at the best of times in the great forests. Bears on the other hand are much more prominent and chances of conflict are relatively high. So a TWP tracker was gratefully received, as were two tins of Bear spray (a high concentration of pepper spray).
Twelve days had passed; we had walked tens of miles from dawn to dusk each day and were truly shattered. We were all beginning to get fed up. We had seen several Wild Boar, Carpathian Red Deer, Roe Deer, and Fox amongst countless species of Bird, but still no Bear. We knew it would have to take something special for us to see the very elusive Lynx or Wolves, but we really expected to have seen a Bear by now! Even the trackers were becoming frustrated with how unlucky we had been. Their existence was evident all around us with prints and fresh scat, sometimes very fresh, but still no actual sightings. Even a local shepherd had accidently managed to stumble upon a Bear in the time we were there. Three in fact; a mother with cubs. Unfortunately for him he was stood between them, so was subsequently attacked. Luckily the commotion attracted the attention of his (and a fellow shepherd’s) sheep dogs who intervened. It took eleven large growling dogs to discourage the female Bear and convince her to move her cubs elsewhere. The shepherd survived, but only just.
Our tracker for the day; Barni, took us to Sfanta Ana Lake (an extinct volcanic crator) further up into the mountains. Here we stood a better chance of seeing a Bear. For hours we walked around a peat bog before emerging the other side where a shepherd watched over his flock of sheep. His dogs barked at us as we approached. Barni spoke to the guy; he had seen a Bear, a large male just thirty minutes previous. Damn - so close! We walked up into the forest where the Bear had come from, scanning from a wooden hunting tower for several minutes. On a normal walk through the forest you are bombarded by a cacophony of bird song. Robins, Wrens, Orioles, Warblers, Tree Pipits and so on, the drumming of woodpeckers frequently rattling through the trees. But today; silence. It brought a very eerie sense to the atmosphere that we subconsciously adopted as we walked deeper into the woods.
Barni ordered us to halt; a rustle in the bushes ahead and a bear bolted from the undergrowth in the opposite direction. The briefest view possible of young male known to the area, but only half the group (including myself) managed to connect. In a way I wished we hadn’t seen it at all as it didn’t seem fair on my companions.
Sadly it was long gone but we continued further, trampling through the undergrowth in no particular direction. Ten minutes had passed, when Barni ordered us to stop again. I immediately clocked what he had spotted. Fifty yards in front of us was a huge beast of a Bear, a massive male, much larger than I had ever anticipated them being. We were downwind, but it was nonetheless fully aware of our presence. It looked straight at us and sniffed. Its face bulky and round like a huge dish with comparatively small eyes but large snout. We instantly made a grab for our cameras and shot away like machine guns. It slowly backed away, before fully turning and running over the brow of the hill. Wow.
Expecting it to be gone like the previous one, we walked up the hill to where it was before only to stumble on it again, slightly more agitated this time. It swayed its head back and forth, up and down several times, clearly indicating we needed to back off. We had hardly a chance to react, before it bolted again. This time in our direction! It was charging us!
Now I know I can’t speak on behalf of the others, but to put it mildly I panicked and seriously didn’t know what to do. I seemed to be positioned in a slight clearing between trees. I felt vulnerable, like a sitting duck. I dashed to my right to get near a tree, not that that would’ve helped me. Rob grabbed me, as he knew I had the pepper spray in my pocket. All the while the Bear was racing closer. I remember catching a movement out the corner of my eye as I began to make my move. Barni simultaneously made a dash to his right too. A Bear’s eyesight isn’t particularly sharp so I don’t think it had envisaged there being more than one of us. Suddenly feeling outnumbered, it stopped and stood just twenty yards from us - way too close for my liking, but then promptly scrambled in the opposite direction. Calling it a huge relief was a bit of an understatement. My legs were like jelly; we were stunned by what had just happened. Barni wanted to go after it again but that was certainly a close enough encounter for us. Nothing can prepare you for an animal of that size charging; I have never experienced such an adrenaline rush as that.
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