Bila je ovo možda i naša najuzbudljivija i najživopisnija Karpatska ekspedicija do sada. Nabijena lepotom i osećajem monumentalnosti predela, adrenalinskim doživljajima i avanturom, osećajem neograničene slobode i plutanja po oblacima. Bilo je i rizičnih situacija, gde prostora za grešku nije bilo. Bilo je trenutaka gde ne možemo ni napred ni nazad, gde smo prepušteni sami sebi za pronalaženje rešenja. Ali nijednog trenutka nije bilo panike. Kroz sve smo prošli hladne glave, uvereni da nas ništa ne može zaustaviti.

Sve se to odigralo na najvećem 4×4 “igralištu” u Karpatima, ogromnoj planinskoj visoravni u centralnom delu južnih Karpata koji formiraju planinski lanci Šurean, Čindrel, Lotruluj, Latoricej i Kapačini, gde vas s jednog na drugi kraj od “civilizacije” deli i po dvestotinak kilometara, a kroz čiju očaravajuću diviljinu se prostire mreža sastavljena od hiljada zemaljanih puteva i puteljaka koji prosto vape da budu otkriveni. U svemu tome, kao kakav nakit, mame vas lednička jezera, zelene livade pune gljiva, guste četinarske šume s tepihom od mahovine i vrletni kanjoni. Sve u svemu, bilo je to bez sumnje najlepše i najintenzivnije potrošenih 8 dana u Karpatima uz 1446 prevezenih kilometara, gde smo ušli u jedan potpuno drugi svet, nedodirljivi za svakodnevicu. Oči nisu mogle da se nagledaju veličanstvenih predela i čuda, a zov za divljinom i daljinama se otkinuo s lanca i omamljujuće nas obuzeo. (English below images)

This may well have been our most exciting and picturesque Carpathian tour so far. Overwhelming beauty and the feeling of monumental landscape all around us, full of adrenaline and adventure, with an unmistakable feeling of limitless freedom, floating above the clouds. We’ve also had risky situations, with no space for mistakes. At moments we couldn’t go either back of forth, alone in an effort to find a solution. But we didn’t panic for a single moment. Our heads were clear, and in our conviction that nothing can stop us we had no doubts!

It all happened in the biggest 4×4 playground in the Carpathians, a huge plateau in the central part of the southern Carpathians made up of the Surean, Cindrel, Lotrului, Kapacini and Latoricej mountain ranges, where it often takes more than 200 km to traverse the huge wilderness before you reach “civilization” again. In that space you travel through a huge network made of thousands of dirt roads and trails waiting to be discovered. Among them, as if it were some sort of landscape jewelery, lay numerous glacier lakes, green meadows fool of mushrooms, old pine forests covered with a green moss carpet, and striking canyons. This is where the latest tourist attraction of Romania lies, the Transalpina road reaching an altitude of more than 2100 m, and it’s 4×4 buddy, the Strategica road, which makes it hard to drop your camera even for a moment. Without a doubt it was the best spent 8 days in the Carpathians, where we became part of a completely different world, untouchable for everyday life. We couldn’t get enough of magnificent vistas and miracles, and the call of the wild became a true beast.

So, Carpathians are the place where real offroaders are born – you can’t call yourself an offroader until you’re initiated there 🙂 Our 8 day, 1446 km long journey started with the magnificent Tarcu mountain, continuing with the virtually endless ridges of the Surean and Cindrel mountains, all the way to Sibiu. Turning back, we crossed Lotrului, Kapacini and Latoricei mountains, ascending all in all 7 above 2000 m mountain peaks! The images you’re looking at are just a faded copy of the things we lived through. So next year don’t bring yourself into the situation to share our pictures when we start the Carpathian tour with comments like “look what we’ve missed”, but join us and find the final answer to the question why you’ve bought your 4×4! 🙂