The Danube Delta is navigable only by small boat. Most of its 5,800 square kilometres of channels, lakes, and floating reed islands are reached only from the water — there are no roads into the interior, and no way to understand the scale of the place except from the surface of it. This five-day expedition uses motorized wooden boats and kayaks to reach places the tourist boats don't go: the secondary channels of the Sfântu Gheorghe arm, the pelican colony at Rosca-Buhaiova, and the Lipovan fishing village of Mila 23, reachable only by river.
Arrival in Tulcea — the gateway city of the delta. Briefing and gear check. Evening boat departure to the first guesthouse in the delta interior, only accessible by water. Dinner with the host family.
Full day by motorized boat through the secondary channels north of the Sulina arm. Morning approach to the Rosca-Buhaiova pelican colony — the largest white pelican breeding colony in Europe, with several thousand nesting pairs. Afternoon through floating reed islands. Return to guesthouse.
A full day on kayaks in the narrow channels near Mila 23 — passages barely wider than the kayak itself, where the reed walls rise three metres and the sky is a narrow strip above. In the afternoon, visit Mila 23 — a Lipovan Old Believers village, reachable only by boat, where the community still fishes and lives as it has for three centuries.
Travel by boat along the Sfântu Gheorghe arm — the wildest and least-developed of the three Danube branches — to the village at the river mouth and the Black Sea beach beyond. The beach here is backed by dunes and is empty for miles in each direction. Farewell dinner in Sfântu Gheorghe village.
Morning boat return to Tulcea. Transfer to airport or bus/train for onward travel. End of programme.
4 nights in delta guesthousesAll mealsMotorized wooden boats & kayaksLocal delta guide throughoutAll channel transportInternational flightsTravel insurance