Radio Romania International: THE DANUBE DELTA Contest

The Delta is one of the most scenic regions in Romania and Europe, boasting a varied flora and fauna. It was formed between the three arms of the Danube: Chilia, Sulina and Sf. Gheorghe. Sulina is the easternmost town of Romania, located in the Danube Delta.

Radio Romania International (RRI) invite you to listen to RRI’s programmes and access the website at www.rri.ro to find out the correct answers to these questions; thus you can be the lucky winner of the contest. RRI will be waiting for your answers by September 30th 2008, the post date.

The Danube Delta was declared a Biosphere Reserve in August 1990; previously parts of the Delta had been declared nature reserves. Letea forest, with its strangely-shaped oak trees which grow on sandy soil, was declared a nature reserve in 1938. In 1972 it was the Rosca-Buhaiova area that was declared a nature reserve due to the pelican colony that had settled there.
The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, which is included in the UNESCO heritage list, also comprises the Razim-Sinoe lagoons, and it spans 580 thousand hectares.
This year, there will be two Grand Prizes, each consisting of a 9 day stay for 2 people with full boarding for next summer at a time that will be agreed on by winners and sponsors. The winners of the grand prizes will be accommodated in several locations in Tulcea county and the Danube Delta, including floating hotels. The contest is sponsored by the Cormoran Compound in Uzlina (www.cormoran.ro), Eurodelta Travel (www.eurodelta.ro), Finesse Travel & Explore (www.finesse.ro) and the Delta Hotel in Tulcea (www.deltahotelro.com) . As usual, travel fares from your country of origin to Romania and back as well as visa expenses (if the case may be) are not covered by RRI. Apart from the two grand prizes, you will have the opportunity to win lots of smaller prizes related to the Delta and Tulcea county, offered by our partners.
In the Danube Delta you can find the largest reeded area on the planet that covers 1,560 square kilometers, and 331 bird species, 9 of which have been declared unique species. The Delta is home to the largest pelican population in Europe (almost 8 thousand pelicans), to 60% of the world’s Pygmy Cormorant population and to 50% of the world’s Red-breasted Goose population.
In the Delta you can also discover rare birds such as the White-tailed Eagle or the Saker Falcon. Of the more than 300 bird species, 70 have come from other continents. Some of the Delta’s attractions are: the Dalmatian Pelican, the 'Eurasian' Spoonbill, the Great Egret, the Little Egret, the Mute Swan, the Whooper Swan, the Black-winged Stilt and the Ruddy Shelduck.
The questions:
* When did the Danube Delta become a biosphere reserve?

* What are the arms of the Danube that form the Delta before it flows into the Black Sea?

* What is the easternmost town in Romania, which is located in the Danube Delta?

* Name three species of birds that are common in the Danube Delta.

Along with the answers to these questions, please tell RRI what made you participate in this contest, and, if you want to, what source of information you used in the contest, other than RRI’s programmes.
You can write to us at the following address:
Radio Romania International, 60-64 General Berthelot Street, sector 1, Bucharest, PO Box 111, postal code: 010165.
You can fax RRI at: 0040213190562, or you can send your answers by e-mail at engl@rri.ro or eng@rri.ro. Remember to send your answers by September 30th 2008, post date. The winners will be announced at the end of October 2008.

(Resource: Radio Romania International)