How I spent the night in the company of a pack of wild dogs…

It was quite an amazing experience that I will always remember.
It happened a few years ago while I was travelling around Romania in a rental car. 

In the trunk of the car were my tent, my backsack and my guitar. Travelling solo in that configuration is my favorite way to explore a country and discover its people. I improvise my way around and enjoy fun experiences like the one I am about to share with you.

I had been travelling around Romania for a few days already, and was heading towards the Danube Delta from Brasjov. 

However, the travel was being unexpectedly long: On the way, I realized I had to run through kilometers of this (See 30-second video below), even though on the map it was indicated as a main regional road ! 

 

So I wouldn’t reach my destination in accordance to the travel schedule I had set…
So what? I was on holiday! 

Yet, I was starting to feel quite exhausted and needed to rest for the night. I stopped in the village of Tulnici , entered a local café and asked around if there was a place where I could put my tent down. 

One guy said to me that a few kilometers back in the forest there was an old camping site not being used anymore although there was still guy guarding the place and I could ask him.

So I jumped back into the car, found the place, asked the guy who was OK with me hanging out there for the night and laid down the tent. He opened a toilet for me and left for the night. Romanian kindness. 

It was very isolated: exactly what I needed to spend one of these calm and enjoyable evenings, diving into a good book, sipping a beer and relaxing under a warm and clear evening sky.

Just when I started laying on the grass to enjoy the last hours of daylight reading the novel I was into, a pack of about 8 - 10 dogs approached. 

Ooops…

They were not really aggressive, more like curious: Only an orange alarm had gone off in my head. I soon realized that they were there to stay: this place was their turf!  So, I sat on a nearby log, assessing the situation and realizing that it would be a good idea to move camp… but I was so exhausted… And I really wasn’t feeling like sleeping in the car.

Then, one of them approached me, it looked like a female, growling a bit, but not indicating any other aggressive signs. I had noticed that this one appeared to be the boss. So I gently rose my hand in mid-air, palm open towards the ground. To my surprise, it worked: she slowly slid her muzzle under my hand, and I started to stroke her, with calm and confidence. We stayed like this for a few minutes.

That made me realized that I actually was welcome as a guest!

Consequently, I decided to spend the night in the company of the pack, not 100% reassured, but sufficiently to know that I’d be OK. 

To be honest, I didn’t sleep well that night, kind of keeping one eye opened. I had the puppies crawl into the tent, very cute, but I had to push them away with their collection of flees and ticks! I wouldn’t take open pictures of the pack with the flash, but I managed to do so with one of the puppies that attempted to find comfort on the duvet I was using as sitting cloth.

I remember also waking up a few times because of much barking and agitation around my tent. I definitely didn’t feel like going out to check out what was going on! 

When finally, the sun decided to rise, I was rested enough to go on with my journey. The dogs were running all around me, in a joyful manner, welcoming their guest for the new day.  I actually enjoyed their company at that moment, and felt completely relaxed.  I took out the food I had in the car, and shared breakfast with them. Strangely, I recall them being quite ‘disciplined’, waiting patiently for me to share the food. I ended up using all I had.

After that, I packed, and said goodbye to the dogs.

In the nearby village, I stopped for a food refill, and told my story to the clerk. When I mentioned the part about me waking up at night due to the unusual amount of noise outside the tent, he offered an explanation that baffled me.

“ The pack protected you, you were their guest.”

“ Protected me from what? ”

“ Bears, they are everywhere in the forest, you should not have put your tent down. That was very dangerous. You were lucky to have the dogs with you!”

Man, I had not expected that!

At that moment, I hadn’t thought much of it. It is only later, when I reflected on that night with the pack, that I realized I had experienced a unique fusion with nature. Maybe a little like being Mowgly of the Jungle Book for a few hours. A welcomed guest, under the protection of a pack of dogs (I do not think it would have worked so well with wolves though!). 

I realized also that hospitality is not only a human trait… it is a character universally shared among all social species. 

And to finish this post, another 30-second video to show you how beautiful the landscape is in this area. Definitely worth a visit for those that a fond of nature!

The map was created using snapchots of Googlemaps.
Friezes are based on illustrations found on Pixabay.
The title picture was found on Pixabay.
The video and other photos are by me.

Hi,
I’m @muphy,
My life revolves around music production, teaching sciences, and discovery through travel.
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