Winter Tour in Dobruja - Searching for Red-breasted Geese - Private program

Dobrogea should be on every seasoned nature enthusiast’s bucket list for 2018/2019. Winter is a perfect time to discover Dobrogea, the place were we can see a lot of geese, including the famous Red-breasted Goose, Whooper Swans and many raptors. Winter is an exceptional season for birders and photographers in Dobruja.

Dobrogea winter tour, blends harmoniously photography with birdwatching. We have with us, cameras and binoculars / scopes. If we can’t get close enough to the birds for (photo) shooting, we just enjoy their presence and see them through binoculars or scopes.

Dobruja is a fantastic place, especially in winter. Thousands of geese wintering here, sleeping at night on the lakes and swamps of the Danube Delta and grazing on day light on fields cultivated with cereals. Besides, a lot of other birds can be seen here in winter. We’re constantly looking to see and Buzzard of all kinds, Long-eared Owl, Nutcrackers, White Tailed Eagle, Spotted Eagle, Troompet Swans, Tits, Goldcrest, Bramblings and plenty of other forest birds. Now with the leafless forest, birds are very easy to see.

Our tours can take from 4 days / 3 nights to 7 days / 6 nights.

A proposal for the program of 4 days / 3 nights looks like:

Day 1 – We meet at Tulcea. Accommodation at 3 *** hotel. In the evening we have a technical meeting and discuss the program the next day.

Days 2 and 3 – At 6:00 we depart on field to see birds, our route will be established based on our fresh infos on the field, we travel by our minibus (8 places). We scan fields for geese, especially Red Breasted Geese and other winter birds. We’ll search for feeding, preening or sleeping spots.
We have the lunch with us and we’ll eat it ouside, in a nice place and in the evening we have the dinner at the hotel, in the same time we’ll take conclusions over the day and we plan the next day program.
For longer tours, all days will be the same program, different will be only the route. Of course, we’ll insist also on other species of birds.

Day 3 – After breakfast we say “Goodbye”.

Accommodation in Tulcea

It is done in a 3 *** hotel in double rooms. We collaborate with the best hotels in Tulcea and know exactly where to accommodate according to our program.
Breakfast and dinner are in the restaurant and we will take lunch to go.

Cars

We move with an 8 +1 van, well maintained.
* Cars are registered in Romania and have all technical inspections up to date and good tires.

Guides

We have the best team of guides in this area. Guides are good sepcialists of these areas, they know exactly what and where to find geese and other birds. We will give you all the information you need, about birds and about the places we go.

Equipment

Being an winter tour that involves travel by land, you need a very good personal equipment. It should contain:

• Waterproof clothing – in Dobruja even if it’s not rains, winter is likely to be fog and / or wind. Only good quality clothes will keep you warm and dry.
• Waterproof footwear for mudd – GOOD! boots and / or rubber boots  We will travel through mud or snow, even if not on long distance, though you should be well prepared for this.
• The color of clothes is also very important. Please bring clothes in colors more natural, as close to the colors of nature surrounding. The brown camouflage pattern are the best. If you come in red clothes, yellow or other colors from the city you will certainly don”t get too close to wildlife.

Day tours

Runs from 6 am to sunset. We drive on roads or not, the decision to cross a field belongs exclusively to the driver and will be taken depending on weather and road conditions (mud, ice, etc.).
Usualy we go on the fields, scan for flocks of geese and then we find a good spot with the sun in the back and watch what happens. Is it possible to travel on foot, over relatively short distances to access a place where we can not reach by car.
If the weather gets worse (snow or fog), guide and / or driver can interrupt the tour. Customer safety is first, we always want to make sure that we can get back to town without problems.