Transylvania is one of the last strongholds of the brown bear in Europe.
Misty days in the Făgăraș. Pentax MX, Kodak Pro 100, June 2023.
Sliding down a snow slope, using the adze of the piolet as the break. I hear a noise. I stop and look up. About a hundred metres from me, high on top of an escarpment, 2300m above sea level, is a bear cub, running away. It stops, then looks at me. It has a big head, big ears.
’But where is mummy?’ I wonder.
Approaching the summit of Negoiu. Pentax MX, Kodak Pro 100, June 2023.
It that moment, mamma bear pokes her head out from behind a big rock and looks straight at me. A fully grown brown bear. She probably weighs about 400kg.
Făgăraș skyline. Pentax MX, Kodak Pro 100, June 2023.
A split second later, mamma bear and her cub both retreat.
Before I even have a chance of grabbing my camera, they disappear.
I don’t see them again.
That way. Pentax MX, Kodak Pro 100, June 2023.