Retezat National Park


The Retezat National Park is a protected area located in the Retezat Mountains in Hunedoara county, Romania.

Description

Containing more than 60 peaks over and over 100 crystal clear deep glacier lakes, the Retezat Mountains are some of the most beautiful in the Carpathians. In 1935 the Government of Romania set aside an area of the Retezat Mountains creating the country's first national park.
Currently the park has. The area shelters one of Europe's last remaining intact old-growth forest and the continent's largest single area of pristine mixed forest. The highest peak of the Retezat Mountains, Vf. Peleaga, is located in the park. The park also includes about 80 glacier lakes.
In 1979 the Man and Biosphere Program of UNESCO included the park in the international network of biosphere reserve.

Flora and fauna

The flora consists of approximately 1190 plant species, of which 130 have the "endangered" or "vulnerable" status. Wolves, brown bear, wild boar, Eurasian lynx, European wildcat, chamois, roe deer and red deer, as well as small carnivore species such as Eurasian badger and Eurasian otter populate the park.
The Gemenele scientific reserve is a strictly protected area of the park enclosing an intact old-growth forest.