This place is a hiker’s and wilderness enthusiast’s dream. One can leave the noisy, polluted cities behind and enjoy the peace of a rural home; climb the tall, rocky peaks; and by be stunned by the amazing panoramic views of the Sebesvíz/Râul Mare Valley, Vizek-szája tó/Gura Apelor dam, Nagy-Lepusnyik/Lăpuşnicul Mare Valley, Buta-nyereg/Şaua Plaiul Mic, or Lolája-vízesés/Cascada Lolaia. The Retyezát Nemzeti Park (Romanian: Parcul National Retezat; English: Retezat National Park or RNP), continues to amaze every hiker who dares to visit this challenging pearl of nature located at the western end of the Carpathian Mountains.
The first Romanian National Park, or RNP, established in 1935 by professor Alexandru Borza and biologist Emil Racoviţă, still provides rich opportunities for visitors to discover alpine peaks, glacial lakes, forests, alpine meadows and many rare plants and animals. As you walk into this park, you’ll be charmed by the great diversity of forms that make the landscape peculiarly spectacular. It’s up to you whether you want to climb the highest peaks – Peleaga (2,509 meter) and Păpușa (2,508 meters) – or explore the glacial valleys through which glaciers, with lengths of 3 to 8 or even 10+ kilometers, slid down to an elevation of 1,300 meters
Since 2004, the area has been a member of Pan Parks, a European foundation set up to promote the national parks of Europe as outstanding eco-tourism destinations, and three years later, it was included in the European ecological network Natura 2000.
But words aren’t enough to describe the beauty of this pearl of nature, so here is a short, two-minute documentary released last week on the official RNP website. Zoltán Gergely Nagy, a wildlife photographer from Marosvásárhely/Târgu Mureș and member of the film crew said, “[This is] the first clip from a series of mini-documentaries on the incredible wilderness and natural heritage of the Parcul Național Retezat National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. [It was] produced together with my colleagues, good friends and fantastic filmmakers Ede Barabási, Róbert Sáji and, of course, the wonderful staff of the national park as part of an EU funded project. For me, taking up the production of this documentary video on [the area’s] natural history has been the main challenge of the past year, but it has grown on me quickly, as we all learned so much in the process!”
Enjoy!
Title image: Screenshot from the video.
