I photograph and document several topics that interest me including wildlife, environment, rural ecology (how people interact with their environment and what effect these activities have on local flora and fauna), transhumance and human/predator coexistence.
I have experience in conservation work and was the founding member and director of a local wildlife project. During that time I hosted undergraduate students from a UK university and several film and media organisations/companies including National Geographic (USA).
On a day to day basis I am either in the forest with my wife monitoring wildlife (using camera traps) or with shepherds (transhumance) who have a deep understanding of human/predator coexistence. I document how they protect their livestock (without the use of guns) from wolf and bear depredation on remote high forest meadows.
My first introduction to Transylvania came in 1993 when I joined an aid convoy delivering medical equipment to a hospital in the town of Kézdivásárhely (Târgu Secuiesc). I was only there for a week but I knew instantly that I would return. An intriguing combination of rural Székely life/culture and their relationship with the environment stirred my interest.
I returned a month later and stayed for more than a year. Initially, I was located in the same hospital where I delivered aid to, but eventually I moved to the village of Ozsdola (Ojdula) on the invitation of Dr Turóczi Ildikó. My profession is in health care so I did what I could to help out, although this was limited due to the language barrier. I kept in touch with my contacts in the UK and a small flow of aid continued whilst I was there.
Questions and Answers:-
1. Question - Do you have a tourism business that offers holidays in Romania? Answer - No, but I do know others that do and I occasionally refer people that contact me to them.
2. Question - Do you offer internships for university students? Answer - I get asked this a lot but unfortunately I don't. We do not have the resources to host or accommodate interns. However, I am happy to answer questions and meet with students who are in the area.
3. Question - Do you accept visitors? Answer - Yes, with prior notice (because we are often in the forest). There is a contact form on the right column of each page. Send me a message with your email and I will reply to you as soon as possible.
4. Question - Are you active on social media? Answer - Yes and social media is probably the best place to see our day to day activities and updates. Here are the sites with links that I am most active on:-
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wildtransylvania/
https://twitter.com/_paulwhite_
https://www.instagram.com/wildtransylvania/
https://www.facebook.com/paulwhite64
