> In Europe, with its long history of human settlement, the southern Carpathians present an anomaly. The area stretching from Djerdap National Park in northern Serbia across the Danube gorge at the Iron Gates, up to the Retezat, Romania’s flagship national park and across the Fagaras mountains almost to the bend that the Carpathian Mountains make at Brasov is surprisingly well preserved, almost untouched in comparison with most other parts of the “old” continent.
The southern Carpathians represent one of Europe’s very few remaining great wilderness areas. The area totals over 1 million ha …