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00:01:13This time, nature and adventure, we came to a place that has
00:01:17recently become very dear to our show, "Nature
00:01:20and Adventure", namely the Natural Park, Grădiștea Muncelului,
00:01:24Ciocolovinac. We've been around here a lot lately and discovered some
00:01:27fantastic things. Look, I've worked 20 years on this show and didn't
00:01:31know much about the park. We came in autumn at the
00:01:35end of September,
00:01:37for an event that marks not only this area but
00:01:41all the Carpathians of Romania, namely the period in
00:01:44which the deer
00:01:47of the Carpathians sing
00:01:50their love, that is, when they are rutting. We
00:01:54left the car at the end of the road, we'll meet
00:01:57the boys further up.
00:02:00Before we start climbing, to get to the heart of the matter
00:02:03and look for the deer, we stopped somewhere down in the valley, because here
00:02:07there are the Crivadia Gorges, which we have never
00:02:11visited on this show, and in which
00:02:15we hope by visiting them to
00:02:18discover the presence of otters. I'll meet the boys from
00:02:21the park later on.
00:02:24târziu.
00:02:28Our friends are waiting by the river, with them
00:02:31we will explore the gorges, the truth
00:02:35is that I can't wait to see something I've heard about
00:02:38many times, but have never seen.
00:02:54Good morning, gentlemen, good morning, welcome
00:02:57back, welcome. The boys,
00:03:05each specialized in
00:03:07what he does, Alin, the park director,
00:03:11Cristi the Ranger, Bogdan, a fauna specialist. What
00:03:15are we doing? Yes, this is my sector,
00:03:18we rounded and we go on the Crivadia
00:03:22Gorges, on the Crivadia river, to retrieve a
00:03:25camera where we hope to have
00:03:28images. of the otter in a place that
00:03:32we rangers have called the otter's dwelling, the otter's dwelling, this
00:03:35practically means that Crivadia, although small
00:03:39and quite anthropized, this means it has
00:03:42fish, because the otter, if it has nothing to eat, yes, it has
00:03:45fish, definitely, being called the Crivadia Gorges,
00:03:49I assume that at some point it will be impossible to advance
00:03:53on the banks, we will have to walk through the water, yes, a few
00:03:57small canyons are formed, very beautiful, we walk approximately
00:04:00500 meters through water upstream, upstream, of course,
00:04:03and in some places the water
00:04:06creates vortices, it is rocky
00:04:09and in the area, a very beautiful area, luckily I was informed early and I
00:04:13came equipped with boots, otherwise I would not have passed, no.
00:04:16treceam, nu.
00:04:34On our previous visit, we explored the Bănița
00:04:38Gorges, located somewhere else here in the area, 7-8 km away,
00:04:41also very spectacular, and there we found traces of
00:04:45otters, but we haven't explored the Crivadia Gorges and I'm interested
00:04:49in the presence of otters.
00:04:50Look,
00:04:53we're just passing under
00:04:56the bridge, over this bridge is the national road.
00:05:08under all this traffic, including heavy traffic, there is such
00:05:11a wilderness, look, we are 25 meters below,
00:05:1530 meters, yes, and nearby, at the end of the viaduct on the right,
00:05:18you know there is the Crivadia Tower, yes, the Crivadia Tower with the fortress, yes, yes,
00:05:22spectacular, practically here we enter the gorge, don't we? Yes,
00:05:26it's the main entrance to the gorges from downstream, you can
00:05:29also enter upstream through the gorge but much further and it's the first small
00:05:33canyon of the first narrowing, in other
00:05:36words.
00:05:42stay, let's make a
00:05:46dam,
00:05:49look at what a wonder of wild nature you pass
00:05:52through, we come on the national road, if you don't
00:05:55know, it's not
00:05:57there,
00:06:02cracked.
00:06:12"Where did you put the camera? We
00:06:16have about 300 meters until
00:06:19you see a beautiful entrance,
00:06:21you put them in places where you find more traces,
00:06:25look, look, look, the sculpin
00:06:29and how it goes through the water, I saw it, I saw it, I saw it, I
00:06:32saw it, one sculpin,
00:06:35for sure we will see too many sculpins because if there is an otter
00:06:38here." it persecutes them,
00:06:44that is, more precisely, it eats them. I saw it.
00:06:46mănâncă, am văzut o,
00:07:07Very spectacular, very a huge
00:07:11overhang.
00:07:13Massive, a huge monolithic block overhanging
00:07:17and below all limestone, yes, red, maybe
00:07:21it doesn't even come out very clearly in the footage, you have to come and
00:07:25visit the Crivadia Gorges to realize how monumental
00:07:28they are, they seem small but very spectacular,
00:07:31look
00:07:35here on the side we have a dogwood tree
00:07:39twice valuable, once for its wood. It is very valuable, it makes
00:07:43some very good, very
00:07:46resistant clubs from it, and two due to its fruit, which
00:07:49contains very many
00:07:52vitamins. From here, Cristi, we follow the water's edge? Yes, to the right
00:07:55begins the second canyon of the
00:07:58gorges.
00:08:01And to your left here is a very beautiful waterfall,
00:08:04called the Rainbow Waterfall,
00:08:07we'll visit it.
00:08:23here is one of the paradoxes of the modern
00:08:26world: we have here some otter
00:08:30jelly, it is one of the basic indicators of
00:08:33the otter's presence because it cannot be confused
00:08:36with anything else. Beside it, look, a
00:08:39bag. The bag and textiles found on the stream
00:08:43indicate that somewhere higher up
00:08:46we have human settlement. Are there villages?
00:08:49Unfortunately yes, around the Crivadia
00:08:52Gorges there are houses, the village
00:08:55of Bănița with the commune of Bănița, in fact, with several villages,
00:08:58including the hamlet of Crivadia.
00:09:02And upstream they deposit, you clean up
00:09:06all the time anyway, right? Yesterday I went and cleaned up the area,
00:09:10me.
00:09:18I come especially in spring and when it rains, I also come, and
00:09:22yesterday when you were here, there was no sign of otter here,
00:09:25because I saw the other signs
00:09:28in front, I understood, so this wasn't there, it means it's fresh, it means
00:09:32we should find tracks too.
00:09:35We walk on the sand now, returning to what I said
00:09:38earlier, ultimately the rural population,
00:09:41less ecologically educated, that's
00:09:45it, should think very carefully that through what
00:09:48they throw away, these wonders of nature that we still have,
00:09:52somewhat wild,
00:09:54they cause damage that in some cases can be irreparable.
00:10:11As I expected, on the sand bed
00:10:15and the undoubted presence of
00:10:18the otter, namely the tracks and droppings are
00:10:22undeniable, you can see them here very clearly. The front
00:10:26paws, these
00:10:28two. This means that you might have caught something on your camera at the end.
00:11:15But isn't that a fox? No, who said it was a
00:11:18fox?
00:11:21Here's actually a trail of these are otter tracks, you can see
00:11:25the otter came this way, yes, but listen, we're
00:11:29approaching the place, we're about 100 meters from here, it's a small
00:11:32colony, an otter family there, they are very shy
00:11:36and they have enough space there to shelter, several
00:11:39entrances, sand, a sandy beach they
00:11:42like, here in the back,
00:11:46where you see that simple cave, we had
00:11:49another camera placed there, also for the otter, but there we caught
00:11:53a bat, a small bat. with a horseshoe and
00:11:57a marten, a marten, yes, again,
00:12:00classic here, specific to the area, let's go this
00:12:04way,
00:12:05like this.
00:12:10Let's go.
00:12:13There, in the area where Bogdan is, yes, there, where Bogdan is, in that area,
00:12:17that's where the most traffic is
00:12:21from the otters, from their dwellings to the
00:12:23water. In this area the camera is
00:12:26mounted, I can still see it, look
00:12:29Dane, here are, here is the boulevard,
00:12:33so to speak, the otter boulevard, it's already dark here, we had
00:12:37to turn on our headlamps, but in
00:12:40return here we truly have a boulevard, as Cristi calls it, the
00:12:44otter boulevard, you can see very clearly, I'll turn the light from one
00:12:46side
00:12:49to create shadows, so I can also see the places where Bogdan says
00:12:53they dragged their tail, you can indeed see the dragged tail, the otter has a
00:12:56very thick, powerful,
00:13:00fleshy tail, positioned very low, and when it walks, it drags it behind it,
00:13:03only when it, when it runs, it
00:13:06lifts it.
00:13:08Look, a dragging spot here, a dragging spot there, even two dragging
00:13:11spots, yes.
00:13:15Well, I'm going to get the camera and we'll pick it up and
00:13:19see if it caught anything. I'd be surprised if it didn't, with how many otter tracks
00:13:23there are.
00:13:26Yes, it must be said, let me turn off my headlamp, it must be said that the otter
00:13:30is a very shy animal compared to humans, almost like
00:13:34the lynx, not quite like the lynx, but almost like the lynx, that's why it is rarely seen,
00:13:38and during the period when these gorges are visited, i.e. summer, when people are present,
00:13:42you never see it, it retreats somewhere upstream,
00:13:45it comes down when the flow of tourists ceases, it comes down and
00:13:49visits these
00:13:50places too.
00:13:54Look at her. Look at her, look at
00:13:57Miss Otter, I've only seen her tail so far,
00:14:00but there are more recordings here on the camera, look
00:14:03at her, look at her, look
00:14:06at her, look at her walking,
00:14:10well, no better proof, well we were sure
00:14:13after the tracks that we would find the otter, but look at her, she
00:14:16appears again, she walks again, disappears behind a
00:14:20rock, appears again, this is an area where
00:14:23she is... either forced to pass towards the feeding
00:14:26grounds, or she actually lives
00:14:29somewhere nearby, but I doubt she lives nearby,
00:14:33but she is forced to pass through here, look at her, you can see it even
00:14:37better here, look at that tail, this
00:14:40is actually, this is also her characteristic, many people
00:14:44confuse them with beavers, but
00:14:48the beaver has a spade-like tail, the otter has this
00:14:51fusiform and pointed tail.
00:14:55Very cuddly animals, but quite
00:14:59destructive in areas where there are fish farms, especially,
00:15:01a curious animal, an extremely powerful researcher, it fights with
00:15:05dogs to the death, that's
00:15:08why, for example, the fox doesn't bother with it.
00:15:12pildă vulpea.
00:15:32The gorges continue, you know, so we only go up to here, the gorges continue with what's
00:15:36above, the gorges are still very beautiful,
00:15:39wild, they narrow, I understand, they narrow, they
00:15:43widen, the water reaches whirlpools, so it's not
00:15:46just in the period, and there are
00:15:49bigger whirlpools than
00:15:51before.
00:16:01here onwards.
00:16:07Yes, I didn't suspect it, I didn't suspect
00:16:10its existence in the Crivadia gorges, few
00:16:13people, I've talked about it
00:16:16before, very beautiful, why do they call
00:16:19it rainbow when it has more water volume than it does now, I
00:16:23took some more photos, the water comes like a
00:16:26curtain to our right, as you can see, and
00:16:29the sun's rays create mist, if the
00:16:33sun shines here, that's how the rainbow is seen, and that's why
00:16:36they call it that.
00:17:17We continue on a spectacular route along the water's edge, as you
00:17:21can see, traversing the Crivadia Gorges can only be done through
00:17:25the water with high rubber boots, but even
00:17:29these are not enough in certain
00:17:31sections.
00:17:46Since there are no crossing options on the slopes and the water reaches
00:17:50our waist, we decide to turn
00:17:52back.
00:17:59We finished our incursion into the Crivadia Gorges, short
00:18:03but very relevant, we continue
00:18:05our journey. Believe me, these are absolutely
00:18:09splendid places, even the road
00:18:11is wonderful. From the Crivadia Gorges, we continue
00:18:15our route towards the heart of the Grădiștea Muncelului Cioclovina Natural
00:18:18Park for the second stage of the journey, where we intend
00:18:22to observe the deer during
00:18:23rutting.
00:18:30I messed up a bit, I don't like it.
00:18:33Yes, look, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:18:37Whoa, what I
00:18:39expected, this autumn has been
00:18:42exceptionally rich in mushrooms, I thought that in this
00:18:45area it
00:18:48was very possible to find some, and I stopped here because I see birch trees and
00:18:52I see some, I see some mushrooms that are
00:18:55very visible there, it
00:18:59is possible that they are the famous birch bolete, I can't
00:19:03tell from here, but I'll go there, if
00:19:05it's true and they are birch boletes, God
00:19:09put his hand on my head because that means tonight we'll eat an exceptional
00:19:12mushroom dish, let's see,
00:19:14I'll
00:19:18pick them in my hat because I don't have anything else, if I
00:19:21find more, I'll look
00:19:22for them.
00:19:28We are not lucky this time, because I am convinced that we will find
00:19:32mushrooms.
00:19:35I thought it was a birch bolete because the birch bolete...
00:19:52unfortunately poisonous, not so much poisonous as with hallucinogenic effects, under no
00:19:56circumstances should it be eaten,
00:19:59yes, we're going because the boys are waiting for us, they
00:20:03certainly realized we weren't coming and stopped,
00:20:06but we'll have stops because this road
00:20:10is wonderful,
00:20:13perhaps in the top
00:20:153
00:20:18roads in Romania, I saw mushrooms again, but I'm afraid they're again fly agarics, but I can't stop
00:20:21myself from seeing what they are.
00:20:24This time I got it right, look at the birch
00:20:28bolete, I told you it is reddish, we
00:20:31see it, the bolete, we see the
00:20:34spongy part, the stem, the trunk.
00:20:37Compact, well formed, during this time of
00:20:41year they are also very healthy because it's cold at night, they
00:20:44don't get worms, this will be set aside and
00:20:48will certainly be consumed. I'll find more, I have
00:20:52to mention one thing and I can't leave before I say it,
00:20:55don't follow my example when you go mushroom picking, what you see on my
00:20:59TV is one thing, when you go mushroom picking, take your guide
00:21:03with you, not what you remembered from the show, let it be
00:21:06clear. Well, this is a road we've traveled
00:21:10before, but
00:21:12in spring,
00:21:14in spring we traveled it again, we came here once to look for
00:21:18the beautiful lynx. Very beautiful, I can't resist. Now, in the
00:21:22meantime, autumn has come,
00:21:24we are in the last part of September,
00:21:27I found another treasure,
00:21:31the mushroom called "deer's
00:21:34foot", one of
00:21:36the culinary wonders that
00:21:40can be found in Romania in the field, an exceptional
00:21:43mushroom, not picked by many because in certain areas of
00:21:45the country it is believed to be poisonous. It is not poisonous, it
00:21:49indeed resembles a poisonous species, or more precisely a hallucinogenic one, amanita
00:21:53pantherina, but this is not pantherina, it is the deer's foot, especially
00:21:57cooked in the form of schnitzel, you would swear
00:21:59you are eating chicken schnitzel.
00:22:03pui.
00:22:07Look at the fofolog, this
00:22:10is Boletus edulis and I'm sure I'll find more, tonight we'll eat
00:22:13mushrooms.
00:22:31In the next episode, we continue the adventure in the Grădiștea
00:22:34Muncelului Cioclovina Natural Park in search of the rutting
00:22:37deer, but that's after a well-deserved rustic meal
00:22:41in the shelter of the sheepfold in Copăcioș. We put
00:22:44the mushrooms
00:22:46on top and it will be a delicious meal.