“One of my deepest and oldest desires has been to work with professional birdwatchers, to learn what their perspective is and to also share my experiences and my own wonder for nature”, Dumitru said, on receiving the €15, 000 loan from Rewilding Europe Capital (REC). This is the first REC loan in Romania.

“Dumitru and Jeni constantly show their passion for nature and the Delta. They are focused on delivering a high quality service and low impact sustainable tourism activities that highlight the best of the Delta. Their business operations and attitude make them a true rewilding enterprise that we are delighted to support,” says Matthew McLuckie, Enterprise Development Manager at Rewilding Europe.

Starting this autumn they will use the loan for “improving their accommodation and kitchen facilities, purchasing all the equipment they need for developing professional wildlife guiding (including wildlife watching hides) and for promoting their idea to nature tourism markets”. Through their ideas and travel offers, Jeni and Dumitru encourage people to come and discover one of the really unique places in Europe, which also has many rare species of birds and also phenomena like the “glowing” Black Sea.

Jeni and Dumitru will work closely with advisors from the REC team to develop their nature-based business into a top quality one.

This is the fourth loan provided so far by Rewilding Europe Capital.

The first three have been:
– Linden Tree Retreat & Ranch, Velebit: €50,000
– Casa de Cisterna, Western Iberia: €15,000
– Guslice & Melnice Honey, Velebit: €30,000

Rewilding Europe Capital

REC is a specialist financing division of Rewilding Europe, and provides commercial financial loans to new and existing businesses that either directly, or have the potential to, generate economic and social benefits that can support rewilding in Europe.

REC has no sector restrictions for investing, however the fund is particularly interested in the following fields of business:

• Tourism accommodation (hotels, lodges and ranches with a clear connection to nature and wildlife);
• Nature tourism guides and operators (nature guides, bird and wildlife watching experts, horse trekking, adventure tourism businesses, and wildlife watching hide operators);
• Education providers (businesses that provide education or skills courses based on nature, for example school camps, and wildlife education or wilderness survival courses);
• Natural product manufacturers (for example wild honey);
• Rural land owners or developers (with more than 500 ha of relevant owned or leased land);
• Hunting groups (associations or private owners that own hunting rights or concessions of more than 500 ha).

Please read more about Rewilding Europe Capital: http://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-europe-capital/