Andrei Munteanu
Wildlife specialist
Fourteen seasons in the Piatra Craiului. Maintains the hides and runs the tracking mornings.
Brown bear watching from a hide
Zărnești basinWildlifeEasy5 hPhotographyFirst-timers
Duration5 h
GradeEasy
Good forMax 6Ages 12+
On sightings
Sightings are never guaranteedWe do not publish a sighting rate for this experience. These are wild animals on wild ground and we do not bait. Some evenings you will see nothing at all.
What the day is like
An evening in a hide on wild ground. No baiting. Sightings are never guaranteed and we will not pretend otherwise.
An evening in a hide on wild ground, waiting. Some evenings a bear comes within twenty metres. Some evenings nothing comes at all, and we will not pretend otherwise before you book.
We do not bait
No food is put out to draw animals in. Baiting changes a bear's behaviour permanently, teaches it to associate people with food, and is a large part of why some bears end up shot as problem animals. It also makes for a dishonest photograph.
The consequence is that our sighting rate is lower than operators who do bait. We think that is the right trade.
In the hide
Two to three hours sitting still and quiet, from late afternoon into dusk. It gets cold. Bring more layers than you think.
The day, hour by hour
16:00Meet and brief
Collected from Brașov. The guide covers how to behave in the hide and what to do if a bear comes close.
17:00Walk in
Twenty minutes on foot, quietly. The last stretch is single file and silent.