To bear or not to bear? That is the question on Romania’s Transfăgărășan, where brown bears occasionally materialize beside the tarmac like extremely hairy toll collectors. You slow down, stare through the glass, reconsider the structural integrity of your hatchback, and inevitably somebody ahead decides to open a window because apparently several million years of human evolution have culminated in filming a wild bear from three metres away. Romania is home to thousands of brown bears, with the Carpathians supporting one of Europe’s most significant populations. The roadside ones are not there because they appreciate alpine motoring. Bears are intelligent opportunistic omnivores, and repeated feeding can teach them that roads, parked cars and tourists come with lunch. They can also run at roughly 50 km/h over short distances. So no, getting out for a better photograph is not adventurous. It is volunteering for natural selection while holding an iPhone. And therein lies the grubby little paradox. We drive into the Carpathians desperate to see something genuinely wild, then feed it biscuits until it behaves like an enormous, dangerously overqualified parking attendant. Admire the bear. Photograph the bear. Give the bear space. But keep your salami inside the vehicle and your heroic instincts somewhere around sea level. Would you stop? How close is too close? Video by @Donatello______ [Romanian Brown Bears, Transfăgărășan Road, Carpathian Mountains, Roadside Bears, Romanian Wildlife, Brown Bear Population, Bear Encounters, Wildlife Safety, Wild Romania, Carpathian Bears, Mountain Wildlife, Responsible Tourism, Bear Feeding, Wildlife Conservation, Romanian Mountains, Transylvania Wildlife, Mountain Roads, Bear Photography, Carpathian Forests, Romania Road Trip] #romania #travel #bears #transfagarasan
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