Original subtitles

When I thought about doing this programme,

I thought of it, really, in the terms of...

..sort of romantic Blue Danube, leaning on a cruise ship.

I thought it might be a little bit placid, and I thought,

"Mm, are you gonna love me going along, looking lovely,

"looking neat all the time?"

I thought, "No, they don't want that!

"They want to see you looking like a hairy madwoman

"sitting in the front of a choppy boat. That's what they want!"

And look, we've got it. We'd do anything for you.

SONG: 'Voices Of Spring, Op 410' by Johann Strauss II

I think this is one of the most dramatic parts of the entire Danube.

It's astonishing!

This is called the Iron Gates Gorge.

'A thousand miles into my Danube adventure,

'the mighty river becomes the border between Romania and Serbia

'for 130 miles.

'And because it's the Danube,

'it's bound to throw up some gigantic surprises.'

Look at this colossal statue.

King Decebal.

Decebal was, right back in the early days,

the king of the whole of Dacia.

'And Dacia was what the Romans called these lands 2,000 years ago,

'when this brave king held off

'the might of their army for six years

'until they finally defeated him.

'The Romans cut off his head and took it to Rome.'

On the whole, I'm sort of split about...

mountains and things being carved into faces.

Secretly, I think I love it.

I think there are enough rocky mountains in the world

just to get a few faces on them.

And this is one of the handsomest you'll ever see.

'Decebal is a hero to Romanians,

'and he's finally been commemorated here

'by this rock carving created 20 years ago.

'But in the 1960s, under Communist rule,

'this river was about to see an epic upheaval

'neither the Romans nor Decebal could ever have imagined.'

In 1964...

..Romania and then-Yugoslavia, now Serbia, on this side,

decided to make a huge hydroelectric dam,

and they created this colossal reservoir.

'It took eight years to build the dam,

'and when it was finished, the dictators of the two countries -

'Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania -

'did what they did best.

'They showed off.

'It was a brave new world.'

But along with it came a kind of great sadness,

because down in the deep valley there were farms,

there were villages, there were churches.

They're still under here.

We're sailing over villages.

This river just drags history with it everywhere you look.

'Perched over the Danube - called "Dunarea" in Romanian -

'is a little monastery

'that's been here in one form or another

'for a thousand years.'

NUNS SING HYMN

'The previous one is now drowned forever at the bottom of the Danube.

'But its latest incarnation continues its work,

'presided over by Sister Justina.'

Oh, sister, this is so beautiful. JUSTINA CHUCKLES

Thank you very much, indeed.

IN ROMANIAN:

Thank you, Sister. Mersi.

Thank you.

THEY CHUCKLE

'Refreshed and spiritually rebooted,

'I've got a train to catch at the little port of Orsova.

The old town is also at the bottom of the Danube,

'but New Orsova certainly has its charms.'

Dogs! Woo-woo! SHE CLICKS TEETH

Come on, come on, come on!

Come on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Sweet hound!

SHE CHUCKLES

I'm gonna be travelling upriver, but not the Danube.

The Cerna, which is one of the tributaries of the Danube.

You've gotta be pretty fit to get up here.

'If they have a rush hour in Orsova,

'I think it's safe to say that we've managed to avoid it.'

We're leaving a pretty little station. Lovely flowers.

But it's not surprising that the Danube changes her name

in virtually every country she goes to.

The countries she's gone through have changed hands so often!

Here, she's called... "Dunarea".

Men love getting land and going, "Mine!"

Putting a flag down, "There we are, that's mine!"

But nature doesn't do that.

It follows its rivers and mountains and...

..migrating birds.

Migrating grandmothers.

SHE CHUCKLES

This huge gorge is taking me to somewhere

that I am really longing to see.

It's written on my ticket - "Orsova, Baile Herculane".

Boi-lah... Boi-leh... Herculane. MAN SPEAKS IN ROMANIAN

Thank you.

Mersi. Thank you.

It's written "Baile Herculane",

but I think it's pronounced something like

"Bwoi-lah Hercoo-lah-neh".

It's a spa.

And it was first discovered by the Romans.

Hot, sulphurous water just springing out of the ground.

And then much, much later, under Emperor Franz Joseph,

it became an amazing centre of healing,

of gaming, of relaxation, of holiday, R&R, perfect...

and built into something quite magnificent.

'Nestled here in the charming valley of the River Cerna

'is a place that the legendary and elegant Austrian Empress Elisabeth,

'known as Sisi, called "my valley of magic",

'and you can see why.

'It's not hard to imagine this town

'bustling with carriages and crowned heads,

'but this particular spa, built in the 1880s

'and called the Imperial Austrian Neptune Baths,

'is tragically a mere ghost of its former self.'

You know, when you see buildings like this

in this state of disrepair, your heart is absolutely torn.

For a start, you see something so utterly spectacular...

..but it's in a terrible state.

So many places in the world are five to midnight.

This is one of them.

'The baths were last properly functional 35 years ago.

'Now they're locked for safety reasons,

'but I'm here to meet a young architect called Oana Chirila

'who has the keys.'

Oh, Oana, this is splendid! Yeah, it's amazing.

And wait to see the inside of the building.

JOANNA GASPS

Oana, good grief! Look at this.

It's fabulous!

It is. The paintings up here around the ceiling, balconies.

It's immense. I don't think... Well, from the outside,

you can't really get a sense of how huge it is.

Look, it goes off... JOANNA PUFFS

Great corridors down here.

JOANNA GASPS WHISPERING: Look at this.

Extraordinary.

It was a very beautiful place. Big mirrors...

JOANNA GASPS It felt huge. Plants, yeah.

What were these, little hot baths?

And you would step...? You'd get into it?

Yeah, you would stay here in the hot bath for... 30 minutes.

Yeah. Franz Josef used to bathe here.

Extraordinary.

This was a waiting room,

but it was also a place where cultural events took place.

We have a chess board here, lots of chess competitions.

Oh, look, you can see - black and white here.

Yeah, exactly. It's like in Harry Potter.

THEY CHUCKLE Yes! With the chess board.

Tell me the first time you came here and saw this.

I entered the building through a broken window.

And I stayed here. OANA CHUCKLES

You fell in love with it? Yeah, I fell in love with it.

And I said, "OK, I wanna do something more."

'Oana now heads up a team of enthusiastic volunteers

'who have a dream to restore the baths to their former glory.

'Whilst they have secured much of the unstable structure,

'the funds are tight.'

Oh-la-la, this is a huge project.

It is.

What are we looking at to restore this extraordinary... gem?

Around 5,000 euro per square metre, which means around 15 million.

In your heart, do you have hope?

Yes. It's going to be saved by a lot of other people...

Yeah. ..who will invest.

And I think that, in the end...

the community will be the actual saviour.

Oana is an inspiration.

If anybody can get this done, Oana can.

But the young often get a rap

for kind of not bearing things on their shoulders,

not facing up to the future - they are!

Behind them must come a fairy godfather or mother

with pots of money.

'And before I leave Baile Herculane,

'there's something I've been meaning to do.'

MACHINE CHIMES

What pose am I meant to do? MACHINE: 'Get ready!'

IMITATING MACHINE: Oh, I'm getting ready!

'Hold on...' "Beautiful!"

She thought it was beautiful.

"Please wait. Developing photos. Sent to print..."

JOANNA GASPS Oh, my heavens!

'Thank you!' IMITATING MACHINE: Thank you!

JOANNA CHUCKLES

Admit it, it was worth it, wasn't it?

SIGHING: OK.

'300 miles northeast of the Danube

'lies the astonishing beauty of the "land beyond the forest" -

'Transylvania.

'Transylvania is dominated by the Carpathians -

'mountains that arc right across central and south-eastern Europe.

'They feed the many tributaries of the Danube

'and are one of Europe's last remaining pristine wildernesses.

'And my guide, conservationist Laszlo Gal,

'is going to show me where the wild things are.'

What were you looking for?

A bear track. A bear track?

And you can see here... Yeah?

..the footprints, this one.

CHUCKLING: These are huge footprints! Yes.

SOFTLY: Look at thaaaat! It's a huge one.

See? It's bigger than my hand. Mm-mm.

Indicates that it was, erm, a heavy male.

There may be up to 6,000 bears in Romania.

Getting a glimpse of one of them in dense forest isn't easy.

But Laszlo is an expert bear tracker

and knows all the signs.

Like this rubbing tree. You can see these are...

Scratch marks. ..the claw marks.

Those look quite recent! Yes.

And also up there. JOANNA GASPS

We cannot reach it. This is huge.

So it's more than two metres. My gosh.

It's smooth, smooth where they've been rubbing.

Yes, with the back, and like you see in the movie. Scratch.

The Jungle Book. Baloo the bear. Yes, yes.

JOANNA CHUCKLES They are doing the same thing.

And you can smell... The pine, the resin. Yes.

Take care, it will be like a glue.

Oh, it's glue now. Yes.

Well, that's that, I'm stuck now. Yes.

THEY CHUCKLE

Don't touch the tree. No.

And there are some bear hairs, you can see anywhere here.

Mm! See? You can take it.

Look at that.

The bears cleverly use the pungent tree resin to repel biting insects,

but they're also fond of eating ants and larvae.

In fact, they mostly eat vegetation -

herbs and grass in areas like this delightful meadow -

and they rarely eat meat.

What a gorgeous thing to see a bear...

..out in a meadow eating, I don't know, grass and alfalfa.

I'm afraid I've got glued to everything now,

I'm stuck now, like a...

THEY LAUGH

In your bear van, your bear truck...?

I have soap, and you can wash your hand.

Will it come off? Yes.

Because I don't want my... Can you take my bear threatener?

Thank you. THEY LAUGH

THEY CHUCKLE

I told you. CHUCKLING: You did!

I know, but I didn't know I was gonna pick a flower as well.

'I suspect Laszlo is the sort of person

'who much prefers his own company, so I'm quite honoured.

'And he spends most of his time out here in the wilds,

'in his unique bear van.'

Ooh, look, a little kitchen! JOANNA GASPS

I told you, I live here. You do.

And this is how you cook when you're out here on your own?

Yes, I have here milk, fresh milk.

Fridge? Is that a fridge? Yes.

Under your bed, you keep a fridge? Yes.

So we can watch a movie while we are drinking coffee.

Let's do that, yes, please! Let's do that.

'Laszlo's set up several camera traps

'so he can monitor the bears remotely.'

The bear cubs are playing with their mother.

CHUCKLING: Oh-ho-ho!

And she just jumps the water.

THEY LAUGH

Use her like a stepping stone. Yes.

WHISPERING: Oh, look at that!

CHUCKLING: Oh-hoo-hoo!

Happy bear. Yes.

Very comfortable.

Thank you so much. You're welcome.

This is miraculous, it's beautiful.

'It is deeply moving

'to see these images of bears living their best lives out here.

'And it's comforting to know that people like Laszlo

'are working tirelessly to preserve their habitat.

'But there's always been a dark and distressing side

'to our relationship with bears.

'The nearby Liberty Bear Sanctuary was set up by Cristina Lapis

'to help the victims of that cruelty -

'a place where they have a chance to recover.'

Cristina. Nice to meet you.

This is the most enormous sanctuary.

There are 80 hectares of forest and wild space

because the liberty is a gift that we received when we are born.

All of us, animals and human beings.

Mm.

'These bears have all been rescued from horrific lives in cages

'or chained up as attractions

'and mascots in fairgrounds, zoos, castles and even factories.'

Was a bear named Max.

Stayed ten years chained in front of the castle

by a man who put needles in his eyes...

..so to blind him.

Maya was the first bear that I met.

She ate her paws because she couldn't bear any more the cage.

She died in my arms, and I...

I couldn't save her, with all the efforts that we have made.

And I promised her that no other bear will die like this.

A childish promise to a bear.

You are marvellous. I wish the world was stuffed with people like you.

Sometimes, I think that I'm crazy.

JOANNA LAUGHS You're not. You're sane.

But I never thought that one day, there will be so many bears.

How many? How many have you? 130 bears, there are now.

WHISPERING: My God.

I can tell you that not one of them tried to get out.

Five stars, all-inclusive without hunters.

Hello, you beautiful creatures.

This gives me the power to go on.

You know? Seeing that we saved another life.

This is my destiny, my dream, my vision.

And I shall do it until my last breath.

God bless people like Cristina. The world needs more of them.

The world needs us to support them.

'Here in Transylvania,

'it seems you are never far away from a terrifying legend,

'none more potent than the one depicted

'by an Irish writer called Bram Stoker in 1897.

'This is Castle Bran.

'But it's known by a much more blood chilling name.'

This is pretty exciting because, having been in a Dracula film,

to arrive at Dracula's castle!

I mean, our film had him in London.

It was called The Satanic Rites Of Dracula.

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, me, Jessica van Helsing...

Bride of Dracula. Can you imagine?

And it all started off from here, a spectacular castle.

So, I'm not only a Bond girl, I'm a Dracula girl.

Think about it.

'Matei Petrisor has really sunk his teeth

'into the history of this 650-year-old castle.'

Joanna. Welcome. Good morning. Oh, Matei.

Am I standing in Dracula's castle? Yes.

GASPS

Royal by day and wicked by night. Oh!

Right now, it's royal. It's royal.

Tell me about this place. Did Bram Stoker come here?

No. He never visited Transylvania.

But Dracula actually exists. He exists as a person.

And when Bram Stoker wrote the book,

he inspired his story from a real Romanian character.

His father was Dracul. Dracul? Which is "devil" in Romanian.

Dracula, basically, it's the son of the devil.

Is this a common surname here? No, no. Dracul?

I mean, what kind of mum will name... Exactly!

"OK, Vlad, you will be the son of the devil."

It was a nickname.

If you are a king and you name yourself Richard the Fluffy One.

Or Ethelred the Unready. Yes.

People will not get scared.

So in order to scare his enemy,

he got this nickname, "the son of the devil",

which is scary.

It works, doesn't it? Yeah.

You already want to run away.

And he's very courteous and looks quite nice.

Yes. What's not to like, really?

We're led down the primrose path to hell.

But first of all, will you show me this castle? Yes.

Of course. Thank you so much.

I want some kind of creepy music. A bit of smoke, perhaps.

Well, that's what people expect when they come in Transylvania.

'But this castle holds so much more...'

Little stone staircase.

'..than the legend of Dracula.'

So instead of coming for one story - a wicked creepy, spooky one -

people go out with two stories,

and a beautiful one

about the most beautiful queen of Romania ever.

And here she is. Yes.

Her name and title was Her Royal Highness

Maria Alexandra Victoria of Saxe-Coburg Gotha,

Princess of Great Britain and Ireland.

She got married with our king when she was 18.

NEWSREEL: Queen Marie of Romania,

daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh, brother of King Edward VII.

'In her day,

'Queen Marie was wildly popular all around the world.'

She was an extraordinary woman, wasn't she? Oh, yes.

She became a nurse. She did everything.

She became a soldier.

Oh, yes. Well, she got involved.

We were in a very bad situation, 1916,

almost 90% of Romania was occupied by the Germans.

At the peace conference in Paris,

she was sent there as our last chance.

So, she got 50 different dresses,

and she used to walk around on the streets of Paris

with her entourage, around 50 Romanian beautiful girls.

And, of course, that really had a huge impact.

There was a saying in America,

"Who do you think you are, Marie of Romania?

"The Queen of Romania?"

Fantastic.

She didn't live here, did she?

The Queen used to come a couple weeks in the summer to relax.

And so she put her touches everywhere? Feminine touches.

Have a sense of her still being here, don't you?

I would have given you a court curtsey

right down like that.

Ooh. Little creepy top of the ladder.

Look at this view. This is exceptional.

A vast castle. Wild hillside.

Having been in a Dracula film, you...

you furnish the whole character, the whole story with exactly this.

Dracula climbing headfirst down the walls,

blood dripping off his teeth.

But actually, the fable that endures with me now

is the story of Queen Marie of Romania

and her bravery and her beauty, and her courage, her kindness.

And she died so young. 60-something.

Exceptional. But her legend lives on.

And so does Dracula's.

Hot foot from the legendary haunt of Count Dracula,

I've got an appointment

to meet another altogether more real count,

here in Transylvania.

I'm going to be spending the night in a rather special guest house,

deep, deep up in these beautiful hillsides.

And it belongs to King Charles.

When he was the Prince of Wales, he came to this region,

he came to Romania, and fell completely in love with it,

longed to return.

I think he comes here every year for a holiday.

I can't wait to see it.

'In tune with his enthusiasm

'for breathing new life into old traditions,

'King Charles renovated a dilapidated farmstead.

'You can stay there, too, but there's no guarantee

'you'll be greeted by the landlord and distant cousin of our king,

'Count Tibor Kalnoky.'

Tibor. I'm Joanna.

How do you do, Joanna?

How good to see you. Thank you very much, indeed.

Welcome at the King's Transylvanian retreat.

A bit of an understatement maybe for a king.

Yes. It's adorable.

His room is there in the middle.

And look, Prince of Wales, "Ich Dien", his sign up there.

We'll have to update this...

Of course. ..and add the royal badge now.

Oh, of course.

This is your land, isn't it?

The Kalnoky family has been around for 800 years.

And we are related to the King

through Queen Mary's grandmother. Yeah.

I know him personally since 20 years.

And he stayed with us in another village

where we have a small castle and guest house.

And you do castles? Well, the family has two.

So we have to take care of them.

I love that, that is quite a casual remark.

"The family has two castles."

And what was it he loved about this particular area, do you think?

The fact that you can step out of your room,

and you find yourself in a wild flower meadow.

Can we go now? Please.

Let's do it.

The King walks fast, doesn't he? Oh, my God.

His security detail has a problem keeping up with him.

THEY LAUGH

Oh, look at this view from here.

GASPS

Look at that. This just goes on forever.

Full of biodiversity.

So, what do you have in here? You have deer, and...?

Bear. Bear?

Lynx. Hmm. Lynx?

Wolf. Wild boar. Red deer. Roe deer.

This is living history also, what we are in.

Consumer society hasn't really reached us yet.

Actually, the King is very much involved

in all sorts of projects now, in Romania and Transylvania,

and that goes from heritage preservation

all the way to landscape and wildlife,

and to do ecological tourism

because this brings you so much more.

It's the most extraordinarily beautiful country. Dazzling.

Look at my darling room.

This is simply the most adorable farm cottage.

I've brought out several hats I might wear later.

I don't know why I've put hats on there. Anyway...

We've all known about the King when he was the Prince,

so far ahead of his time in everything that he thought about,

which was hard work, artisanship, understanding nature,

doing everything the old-fashioned way,

which is quite often the best way.

And here, in this little place that he's chosen,

just absolute silence and sunshine and sweetness.

It's adorable.

He started mowing again.

LOW RUMBLE It's rather sweet.

I said, "Don't use the scythe. You can turn the mowing machine on."

This country is so beautiful, it's quite hard to explain.

I mean, we've tried to show you a bit through the lens.

'The charm of Romania

'is that the present lives in harmony with the past.

'Old ways of life endure here,

'and one in particular that has survived

'belongs to the Roma, or Romani people,

'who sometimes call themselves "gypsies".

'For centuries, they suffered persecution,

'and yet Romani women have always inspired girls -

'like a very young me -

'drawn to the romantic vision of a travelling lifestyle

'and a carefree existence.

'These are powerful women who can heal with magic

'and tell fortunes.'

CHANTING

WOMAN, IN ROMANIAN:

WOMEN REPEAT

WOMAN:

Many Romanians still believe in the power of witchcraft

and the ability of the Roma witches to influence their lives.

Hello. Hello.

Mihaela Minca. Mihaela Minca.

Nice to meet you.

I understand that you are the most powerful witches in Romania.

Is that true? Yes.

Because we practise the most oldest witchcraft

from all over the world.

It's the magic gypsy traditional magic,

part of all the Roma people.

They live on the world.

Three miracle powers when was created.

One is a doctor, a priest, and a witch.

The doctor, the priest, and the witch.

And to these three miracle powers, a person can find help.

Normal people, political people.

They come and ask for our help.

Soon, we will open the first school of magic and Roma tradition

for people from all of the world

that want to discover our beautiful tradition.

Like a museum with everything about the Roma.

The discrimination is the principal reason

that make us to open this school,

for our minority, for our Roma people,

and to give them the opportunity to have a job, to come learn here,

to try to do something in our country.

Discrimination, it's so big in Romania against the Roma.

Once complete,

the school Mihaela and her family are building

is designed to provide much-needed employment, security,

and a sense of pride in their community.

We will perform a ritual for blessing and protection for you.

I would love that.

IN ROMANIAN:

We will evoke the good spirit to follow you.

RATTLING, CHANTING

RATTLING CONTINUES

SHE SPEAKS ROMANIAN

And we will give you a magic talisman from our altar

to bring you...

SHE SPEAKS ROMANIAN

..success with everything what you will do.

May our protection to bring you luck.

Thank you so much.

I'm very, very touched.

That was so overwhelming, so moving, so fascinating.

And please don't turn off

because we're going to have a fabulous end to this film

cos the witches said so. Thank you.

'As the Danube rolls inexorably towards the Black Sea,

'it broadens,

'and the river traffic grows in proportion...

'..until we reach this port on the Romanian side,

'called Isaccea.

'There's nothing unusual about the port of Isaccea itself.

'Goods lorries come and go

'like they do in ports all over Europe.

'But the country across the water is Ukraine.'

In the past two years,

this has taken on an extreme significance.

That is a country at war.

And here is a place of peace and safety

and exit into other countries.

'When the Russians invaded Ukraine in 2022,

'hundreds of thousands of people rushed to its borders,

'to flee the bombardment unleashed on them.

'And in Romania,

'this little reception centre did its best to embrace them.'

Carolina? Hello.

Nice to meet you. How lovely to meet you. I'm Joanna.

So, this is the welcoming hub for mothers and children.

Everything for emergency.

We offer psychological first aid, but also the basic needs.

And a lovely play area

so the children can take away the trauma

of what they've been going through

and can see... Hello.

Hi, hi. Privyet! Privyet!

'But just as Cristina is explaining how it all works,

'two Ukrainian mothers and their children

'arrive on their way to Bulgaria

'to get away from the relentless war for a few weeks.'

Nice to meet you, I'm Irina.

Iryna, how lovely to meet you. Hello.

I'm Joanna. Olga.

'They've driven over 500 miles through an active war zone

'to get to this port on the Danube.'

Shall we sit down on these tiny, tiny chairs?

Come and sit down.

Can I just say, the noise of the small elephants

is actually the two girls on a slide directly behind the camera.

IN UKRAINIAN:

LAUGHTER

So sweet.

What was it like when war first broke out in Ukraine?

Are you OK?

It will come.

IN UKRAINIAN:

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, babies.

All will be good. All will be well.

I think the important thing to remember

is that they are exactly like us.

They wanted to stay in Kyiv and bring their children up,

and suddenly, this horror was visited on them.

Can you imagine how ghastly it is?

There's no defence of these invasions.

Anyway, they're off for a long drive now,

with those two adorable little girls.

Who seem, as all children do,

to take these things in their stride.

THEY SAY GOODBYE IN UKRAINIAN

'We've reached one of the most important landscapes,

'not just in Romania,

'but in the whole of Europe.

'It's a vast, shallow wetland

'which is home to hundreds of species of birds and fish,

'plants, grasses, and animals.

'And one way to view it all is from this houseboat.'

This is a map of the Danube Delta.

You can see here, marked clearly, "Marea Neagra",

which means the Black Sea, which is where we're heading.

And, of course, all this in the middle here

is going to be wetlands and reed lands

and masses of tiny lakes.

Look at these names.

Bratul Sulina. Crisan.

'It's been pretty peaceful out here on the delta,

'but as we approach a place called Mila 23,

'because it's 23 miles from the very end of the great Danube...'

CHEERING, MUSIC PLAYS

'..I've found myself in the middle

'of a rather joyful looking festival...'

CHEERING

'..involving many fishing boats and a great deal of fish.

'And perhaps more remarkably,

'all of the anglers here are women...'

ANNOUNCEMENT

'..because this is a women's fishing competition

'for the community known as "Lipovans".

'They are descended from Russian Christians

'who fled religious intolerance in the 17th and 18th centuries.'

HE MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT

CHEERING

APPLAUSE

THEY SING

I just wanted to show you my cabin on this little boat.

People sometimes say to me,

"Do you have costume, wardrobe, make-up and things on these trips?"

Well, self-evidently, I don't.

Nick, we're going to look at your room. You'll get marks.

Nick is our second cameraman.

Oh, look, it's not too bad, but this is a boy room.

Do you see the difference? Here's another untidy boy room.

Pair of pants hanging by the window. Tilted picture.

Does make me laugh.

They all emerge in slightly crumpled T-shirts,

thinking they're looking fresh.

Doesn't work.

LAUGHS

It's important to get a good night's sleep

because tomorrow, I'm going bird watching.

It's going to be a very early start.

I hope those jackals out there don't keep it up all night.

JACKALS HOWL

That's it. So, Joanna... Yay! The adventure begins.

Let's see them. Bring me those birds.

Let's hope so.

'Daniel was born and bred here.

'He definitely knows all the shortcuts by motorboat.'

So, we are arriving at the lake.

There are pelicans there. There's about ten.

If you see them sitting on that piece of wood?

I can. There, it's a log in the water.

Yeah, they are majestic birds.

They look prehistoric, don't they?

That thing, it's just about almost three metres in wingspan. Giant.

Absolutely gorgeous.

It's the largest population outside Africa.

Whoa, really? Yes.

Grief!

ANIMAL CALLS

If you listen, this is what people would say is a very peaceful lake.

But just listen to the sound of wildlife -

frogs, cuckoos, chittering birds,

the beating of wings,

the occasional swish of a frog or a fish jumping in the water.

'In the past, the Delta was treated as a wild resource

'that needed to be tamed,

'and untold damage was done to the ecology of this region.

'But now this is a biosphere reserve

'and the community is doing its best to co-exist

'and enjoy some of the benefits of eco-tourism.

'This is one of those communities, a little port called Sulina.

'And it's here that I'm looking for something very specific,

'something that is actually nothing at all.

'Zero.'

I think this is it. "Zero miles."

That means this is technically the end of the Danube.

I can't believe it.

1,800 miles long, and this is the end of it.

Zero miles to go.

Down there, the Black Sea.

Journey nearly over.

'And now after 1,800 unforgettable miles,

'there's one last promise to keep.'

So, this is it. This is the Black Sea.

Finally, we've arrived here.

We've travelled through gorges,

we've travelled under mountains, through vast countryside.

It's travelled through major, major cities.

It's been utterly, utterly brilliant.

So, I'm now going to add this water,

which I got from the spring, you remember, from the source,

right up in the Black Forest.

I'm going to give this water back to the Black Sea where she belongs.

Here you are, water.

Return to your mother.

Done!

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