Apuseni Mountains Adventure Tourism

1.Introduction

Tourism was and still is appreciated as an essential activity of one nation, having major implications above all the others sectors of human activity. That is why , being part of the third sector of economy , tourism represents for Romania an activity of big interest , because represents a primary place regarding the promotion of social, cultural and economical values, but also because of the role played in promoting the image of Romania abroad. At the same time, tourism as an economic branch attracts a series of other remarkable positive effects such as:

• Geographical transfer of resources ( supplementary resources )

• Fitting out and systematization of the territory

• Trimming of the balance of payments

• Faster integration in the European Union through tourism

The nature has been generous with the Romanian people giving it an outstanding landscape on the whole his territory. A landscape aroused from the harmonious joining of its constitutive parts, in which diversity lives serried with expressivity and novelty. Practically , there is no element of the natural frame which in one way or another , with a bigger or smaller contribution, does not contribute to the structure of an exceptional and attractive dowry. The geological structure , the relief, the hydrograph network, the climate, vegetation and fauna, each one brings a significant contribution in this sense.

The natural frame of the Apuseni Mountains assures not only the material support and the “ atmosphere” of decoiling the entertaining activity, but also significantly contributes to its materialization.

Choosing Apuseni Mountains as a tourist destination is relatively new to all tourists in spite of the enormous variety of landscapes, wildlife and folklore. Especially tourists which prefer a holiday far from an overcrowded beach or resort will find here are they are looking for.

The Apuseni Mountains name might sound new or unknown to most tourists. They are also called the Western Carpathians and they offer a great variety of landscapes on a relatively small surface. The greatest advantages are that they are easy accessible because of the thousands of kilometre of forestry roads, forest alternate with open pastures and offer splendid panoramas , there are villages up to 1200 m and the people offer accommodation in guestrooms or holiday houses. Hiking is relatively easy because there are huge plateau's and you don't have to go up and down several times a day. The Apuseni Mountains offer also great opportunities for sportive people. A big part of the region is limestone. There are numerous canyons, hundreds of caves and a splendid and unique fauna and flora. In summer 2004 a large part of the Apuseni Mountains was declared "natural park".

The beauty of Apuseni Mountains was recognized also by foreigners long time ago:

“These are what give the Bihar mountains the greatest charm, the intercalary lime formations, although they cannot be seen from far, but the hiker can see them, their surprising beauty. If one can only admire the long courageous lines from a distance, they have the character of a monotonous crystal slate mountain range, one can take a closer look at the famous lime plates in the Galbena Valley and at other places.” ¹ Now, that greatness has not disappeared, it even evolved because of detecting much more of the mountain ranges. However, everything remained wild and that brings a unique beauty with itself. (for example you can observe traditional animal breeding or lime burning).

One of the reasons for which I preferred to choose this topic is that I strongly believe in the touristical potential of Apuseni Mountains, from my experiences I learned that these mountains have a lot to offer and there are still unspoiled. The adventure activities have been my favourites since childhood , especially hiking, skiing and canyoning and the Apuseni Mountains present the perfect environment for adventure tourism.

The aim of this project is to highlight the touristical region of Apuseni Mountains and especially of the situation of adventure tourism, the great potential that it has. In order to accomplish this I considered necessary for this project to content the following points: general description of Apuseni Mountains, presentation of the touristical potential and Apuseni Mountains’ adventure tourism.

¹ Dr. Adolf Schimdt “ The Bihar Mountains at the border of Hungary and Transylvania”, 1863

2.General description of the Apuseni Mountains

2.1 Short history

One of the oldest track of material culture discovered on the territory of the Apuseni Mountains which proves the existence of some human communities from the far ages of brazen and iron , is constituted by the so called “ Zlatna deposits of brazen”. The inhabitation of this zone continued in the roman period , the first larger settlements being linked with the exploitation of gold and silver at Rosia Montana (Alburnus Maior) and Zlatna ( Ampelum).