Michiel van Noppen Photography

We dedicate this story to Goia Natalia,our beloved ‘Romanian mother’, who sadly passed away 16 June 2022.

This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have travelled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer.

With this photo story, we aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food becomes increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants.

A bear mother leads her cups through a town in Transylvania The urban residents have become accustomed to situations like this, which can be dangerous for humans and animals. Bear attacks on humans, usually involving hunters, gamekeepers or shepherds, are on the rise, and bears are repeatedly injured or killed in road traffic.

In a small town in the Carpathian Mountains, a furry visitor rummages through an overflowing dustbin in the hope of finding something edible. Bears are creatures of habit and visit the bins in a specific order every night.

About an hour away from Brasov is a valleythat is visited by bearssearching for food scraps in specifically placed containers, which are put there by the locals. People then gather to enjoy the "spectacle". The night this picture was taken, dozens of people were drinking, shouting and lighting firecrackers while waiting for the bears to arrive at dusk.

The increasing number of bears entering residential areas leads to such surreal images as this one, which shows a bear crossing a cemetery on itsway from its home in the forest to forage in the town. There is much debate about the proper management of Romania's bear population, especially as attacks on humans have become more frequent in recent years.

The timber that is logged in the entire region is collected in this valley: Vallei Doftanei. Here the logs are sorted, roughly processed and then shipped to the rest of Europe. Romania is home to one of the last remaining primeval forest in Europe. In the mountains, usually illegal clear-cutting is commonplace,reducing the bears' natural habitat.

Logging trucks passing through mountain roads are a common sight throughout the Carpathian Mountains. Though nearly one-third of Romania’s land is covered by trees, logging is reducing the brown bear’s natural forest habitat.

At the traditional Ursuldance in Comănești on the north-eastern slopes of the Carpathians, people dance in bear skins trimmed with bushy, bright red shoulder tassels. This ritual is performed in many towns and villages in the region during the last days of December to fertilise and cleanse the earth, drive away evil spirits and welcome the New Year.

Even small children, like this blue-eyed girl in Onești, join in the Ursul dance, despite the weight of the costume, which can weigh up to 50 kg. The people of Onești also have to contend with the presence of bears in their town.

An old male brown bear sneaks through a a graveyard in a Transylvanian village to search this garden for food. Romania’s stretch of the Carpathian Mountains hosts around 6,000 brown bears – Europe’s largest population outside Russia. As the fragmentation of their forest habitat continues, they increasingly explore urban areas.

During the almost 25-year dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romania's bear population nearly doubled, to an estimated 7500 animals when he was deposed in 1989. Forests were managed in a bear-friendly way and additional food was provided for the animals. Only the despot and his guests were allowed to hunt bears.