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For
starters
For
maximum enjoyment of the Lower Danube region (Bessarabia), we recommend
a tour of ten days. This provides enough time to see and appreciate a
wide range of the region's attractions at leisure, with opportunities
for free time to explore, shop or just relax. However, short trips can
also be rewarding - for a long weekend, or simply a day out - if you are
already in or close to Odessa, just contact
us for more information.
The
best times to visit the Lower Danube for wildlife is from the last week
of April to the end of September. The period to mid-May is good for most
steppe flowers and migratory birds, while the later period affords most
of the aquatic plants in flower and a multitude of breeding birds, especially
colonial species like pelicans, cormorants and herons.
For
the more hardy, Salix also organises winter tours of seven days to the
Danube Delta and Crimea to see the huge flocks of wintering waterfowl
and geese (in particular red-breasted goose) and thousands of great bustards
coming from Russia.
Salix
can also organise tours in Crimea and the Carpathian regions of Ukraine.
Please enquire for more information.
Ten
days exploring Bessarabia
| One |
Arrive
Kiev Borispol or Odessa Central; met at airport; transfer to Odessa
by car (approx. 6 hr from Kiev on motorway). From Kiev only: Picnic
tea in Uman oak and hornbeam woodlands for woodpeckers, finches and
warblers. Check-in to hotel in central Odessa. |
| Two |
Depart
for Dneister river and liman. Marsh harrier, herons, warblers, ashy-headed
wagtail. Picnic at Dneister liman / Belgorod fort: migrant passerine
site. Lake Kitai and Aliaga steppe / Traian's wall / Samartian tumuli:
red-footed falcon colony, lesser grey shrike. Suvorovo: spotted suslik
colony and traditional Bulgarian meal. Accommodation at Salix property
in Reni ~ be our guest to pick your own fruit in the garden! |
| Three |
Walking
and boating at Lake Kugurlui Ramsar wetland site. Dalmatian pelican,
red- and black-necked grebes, spoonbill, pygmy cormorant, ferruginous
duck, marsh terns; beds of submerged, floating and emergent waterplants.
Picnic at Russian Imperial Army monument at former USSR border. Dinner
in Reni. |
| Four |
Walking
around steppe and woodlands of Lake Yalpug, the largest natural freshwater
lake in Ukraine. Pied wheatear, golden oriole, tawny pipit, ortolan
bunting, with a huge diversity of flowers and feathergrass. Picnic
in the field, and visit to Bolgrad Basilica. Dinner in Reni. |
| Five |
Breakfast
and departure from Reni; check-in to Korchma Hotel at Stara Nekrasovka.
Visit to Isles of Izmail Landscape Park by boat: cormorant colony,
penduline tit, black woodpecker, and potential for white-tailed sea-eagle;
pristine riverine forest. Picnic on island, with fresh-caught fish.
Bessarabian dinner at hotel. |
| Six |
Walk
in Danube riverine forest. Woodpeckers, thrush nightingale, icterine
warbler, flycatchers. Lunch and free time at Korchma Depart for Vilkovo.
Good opportunities to photograph nesting white storks en route. Settle
in to Salix accommodation. Dinner in Vilkovo. |
| Seven |
Boat
trip to Zhebryanski Bay area of Danube Biosphere Reserve. White and
Dalmatian pelicans, grebes, herons, Caspian gulls, gull-billed tern,
potential for white-tailed sea-eagle. "Shashlik" barbeque on beach.
Dinner in Vilkovo. Stroll around historic old town area. |
| Eight |
Boat
trip to Potapov Island area of Danube Biosphere Reserve. Shoreline
waders, hobby, tern colonies, Savi's and marsh warblers, migratory
passerines. Fresh fish lunch at local fisherman's camp. Dinner in
Vilkovo. |
| Nine |
Departure
from Vilkovo. Return to Odessa via Tuzli Liman complex for waders,
waterfowl and slender-billed gull. Picnic lunch en route Arrive Odessa.
Dinner at Ukrainian restaurant. Night sleeper train "Chernomoritz"
to Kyiv / Accommodation in central Odessa. |
| Ten |
Arrive
Kyiv 08.00; to hotel to freshen up and have breakfast. Sightseeing
in Kyiv / Odessa. To airport for departure. |
Tour
itineraries may change to suit local weather conditions, the composition
and interests of the group or at the discretion of the leaders.
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