This past weekend though, I was out in the mountains exactly for this purpose: off-road not just for myself, but also for my passengers. All eight of us (2 cars, 2 drivers and 6 passengers) were kindly hosted by J’Info Tours in a very nice villa in Busteni (Marie Angelle – recommended if you want to relax in a very quiet location with a gorgeous view of the Bucegi mountains).

The two cars were packed with the following people:

Toyota Landcruiser aka D.D.

• Roxana Radu – driver
• Adrian Holerga
• Cristian Sutu
• Valentin Bosioc

Mitsubishi Pajero

• Myself – driver
• Cristina Constantinescu
• Maria Tomescu
• Roxana Precu

On Saturday we took our time enjoying the mountain side around Busteni area, driving up to Piatra Arsa and having a short walk in the area. We then visited Bolboci lake and had a great meal at Zanoaga Cabin.

On Sunday the fun began. We woke up late, had a big brunch and we started off towards Azuga. However, instead of driving the normal way, we took a forest path through the woods and had a wonderful off road trip all the way up to Sorica ski slope, on top of Azuga. The path was a wonderful trekking path with quite a few challenges for off road enthusiasts (there was even a fallen tree on the path that we had to avoid).

After this part of the trip, we ended up on top of Sorica ski slope, from where our second part of the trip began. This time we took a less traveled road that lead us all the way to Comarnic, all the time surrounded by an incredible view from the mountain tops.

The entire weekend was a wonderful experience and I am glad it was facilitated by Roxana, Maria & J’Info Tours and enhanced by all the participants. The two off road tracks are definitely something I want to do again.

I managed to go on Friday only, but it was a fun end of Friday. I did some off road with some buddies and I enjoyed the concerts of Suie Paparude, Vita de Vie and Zdob & Zdub.

Below, you can see a short video with the off road fun from the passenger’s seat point of view:

The Pelicans through the display of a Sony Alpha

Aside from the half fulfilled desire of seeing the pelicans, I have thoroughly enjoyed this adventure. The human company was fun and entertaining. The activities were fun and dynamic. The location was almost perfect.

My travel buddies were a fun and diverse bunch. Even though we didn’t do everything together, we had fun in everything we did. Bird photography, boat riding, off-roading, fishing, archery, paint ball, kiting and so on.

Cosmin kiting in the skies

The people at CampoEuroClub were very good hosts, taking good care of us. Food was great and almost 100% fish. The catamaran ride was great and lasted several good hours on the Danube Delta channels, allowing us to visit wild areas and see a lot of different types of birds.

A Danube Delta channel

If you plan on discovering the Danube Delta, Partizani is a good starting point and CampoEuroClub a good camping point.

Update: A great movie from Cosmin showcasing the wonderful experience we had in the Danube Delta.

I have been in this area a couple of times, first time staying on a river platform with small, minimal rooms that simply fulfilled the basic needs of sleep and toiletry. I had the best outdoor fish soup cooked on the grassy ground right by this river platform.

The second time I stayed at a fancy villa, with large and comfortable rooms, pool in the courtyard and a real restaurant. Outside boating and off-roading activities it was a “dolce far niente” sitting in bed or at the pool and watching the sunset or the sunrise.

This time I am going to CampoEuroClub, which is a beautiful tourist complex for those who want to spend quality time in the Danube Delta. I will do the regular off-roading (I hope I fix my car meanwhile, so I can actually do this), sail a catamaran, do some canoeing, probably play some paint ball and, of course, eat the regular fish meal at least three times a day (need to keep the round shape, don’t I?).

I chose to go the CampoEuroClub because they have some pretty good offers for Easter and May 1st (I will update this post with more details soon).

I will not go alone though. My usual travel suspects are:

• Doru Panaitescu
• Mircea Panaitescu
• Roxana Radu
• Roxana Precu
• Augustin Radu
• Eros Nicolau
• Andrei Zdetovetchi
• Catalin Georgescu
• Cosmin Tudoran
• & a couple of new entrants that I will add soon

What I know for sure is that I will spend some quality time, enjoy the Danube Delta and the human company. On top of this, I hope I’ll get the chance to catch sight of some pelicans, they’re not present in my Danube Delta picture archive.

They were a scarce view every time I visited the Danube Delta and I had to search for them to catch a glimpse of their magnificent appearance. I was more lucky to catch wild ducks, hoopoes or other species in the viewfinder of my tourist photo camera (a Canon PowerShot A710IS).

Disturbing a bird oasis in the Danube Delta

Hoopoe taking off from a green field

I knew back then what this bird was, but I forgot...

I long for the wonderful weekends I’ve spent in the Danube Delta, together with good friends, eating good food, but most importantly roaming the channels in search for the pelicans. This year I will find them again and return home not only with a bag full of wonderful memories, but also with at least a picture featuring pelicans.

On the way home, after a wonderful weekend in the Danube Delta