Discover the Beauty of the Danube Delta

2. LOCATION

4. The Danube is the second longest river in Europe after Volga. Its source is located in the area of the Black Forest in Germany. It runs out towards eastand flows into the Black Sea. The Danube crosses 10 countries - Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia,Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania - and 4 capitals: Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and Belgrade.

5. In the last part of its journey, the Danube splits into three main branches, Chilia, Sulina and Sfântul Gheorghe (Saint George). Chilia, in the north, the longest, youngest, and most vigorous, with two secondary internal deltas and one micro delta in full process of formation at its mouth. Sulina, the central and the shortest arm. At its mouth is located the main port and the single settlement with urban characteristics of the Romanian part of the delta, Sulina town. Sfântul Gheorghe (Saint George), in the south, is the oldest and most sparsely populated.

6. At the end of a 2,840 km course, collecting the water from a vast hydrological basin that exceeds 8% of the area of Europe, during the last 16,000 years the Danube has built at its mouths one of the most beautiful deltas in the world.

7. TheDanube Deltais the second largest river delta in Europe, after Volga Delta and it is the best preserved on the continent.  The approximate surface is 4152km², of which 3446 km² are in Romania.

8. Some superlatives: • the only delta in the world declared a biosphere reserve, part of UNESCO, a  true museum of biodiversity with 30 types of ecosystems and approximately 5,380 inventoried species; • the third wet zone of the Earth (after Amazonand Nile Deltas) and the biggest of Europe; • - the world's most extensive surface covered by reed; • - the world's richest ornithological fauna; • the largest number of birds of any South European wetland; • the largest population of wild horses in Europe.

10. The Danube Delta is a genuine fauna paradise -98% of the aquatic European faunalives here: • the Odonate (dragonflies,damselflies), aquatic Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), shellfish fauna, rare mammals as the European mink, the otter and the wildcat, vertebrates who, by their presence make the fauna of the Delta conspicuous; • amphibians are represented by two species of water lizards and six species of frogs; • the reptiles are represented by 8 species, most of them snakes (4 species).

13. Danube Delta hostsapproximately 327 species of birds, most of which have been declared monuments of nature(pelicans, egrets, canaries, storks); • 218 species build nests and 109 come and go, spending short periods of time in the Delta; • over 60% of the world’s population of pygmy cormorants, 50% of red-breasted geese and the largest number of white pelicans and Dalmatian pelicans in Europe are living within the Danube Delta. 

14. There are several types of birds colonies in the Danube Delta: herons, rowers, pelicans, cormorans,common terns, crested larks, and terns. The pelican colony from the entirely preserved area Rosca-Buhaiova is the largest in Europe. It is the place where thousands of common pelican pairs associates with tens and even hundreds of curly pelicans pairs and of big cormorants, in a landscape reminding of the Jurassic Park. 

19. In the Danube Delta live over 160 species of fishes, among which 75 are fresh water species. Among the migratory fishes, the most important is the Pontic shad. The catfish is the biggest fresh water fish in Romania, the record in the Danube Delta being of 400 kg.The largest salt water fish, a beluga sturgeon of 882 kg (1944.5 lbs) was fished in 1980 in Sf. Gheorghe. The smallest fishin the Danube Delta measures only 3.2 cm (1.2 inches). Other mostly appreciated fishes are: the pike, the carp, the perch, the bass, the zander, the roach, the bream.

22. The firm land of the delta is covered with large groves of willow trees, mixed with white poplar. On the levees of Letea and Caraorman can find mixed forests of oaks with various trees (elm, poplar), shrubs (blackthorn, hawthorn,the dog rose, barberry) and vines (wild grape, ivy, hop, silk vine, lianes brought from Africa - which reaches up to 25m). On Letea levee, these exotic looking forests grow especially in the depressions between the sand dunes, in small groves called hasmace. Fauna of this region includes meadowviper, eagle,owl.

24. Letea forest is also the home of the largest population of wild horses in Europe - apr. 3000

25. The Danube Delta is not only a byword for ecological but also for cultural diversity. Being situated on both river and sea it has always been a place of settlement, passage and refuge for diverse peoples. With as few as 15 000 inhabitants (or one inhabitant per 30 hectares), living in 28 villages and one town(Sulina), the Danube Delta is sparsely populated. However, the people living there trace their origins to almost 20 different cultures that are peacefully sharing the teritory.

26. In their majority they are Lipovans stemming fromRussia, Ukrainians or Romanians, but there are also Turks, Italians, Greeks, just to mention a few.

28. In Sulina, the easternmost town of Romania and the European Union, there used to live 20 000 people who conversed in 20 to 25 languages. To our days, five to six languages are spoken by the 5 000 remaining inhabitants.

29. Sulina

35. COMENIUS SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP - COM-12-PM-1211-TL-DE WROCLAW / POLAND, 27-31 MAY 2013 COLEGIUL TEHNIC “HENRI COANDA” TULCEA, ROMANIA