DANUBE DELTA
A place worth visiting, admiring and protecting
One Man, One River
Being in a team with special people makes you special too? Well, sometimes yes…depends on who you team to. In 2017, Avram Iancu, a librarian from Petrosani, Transylvania, a landlocked town in Romania decided to undertake a task to transform it into a record: swimming the entire length of Danube River, from its source down to the Black Sea, using no neoprene suit.
2850 km is a long way, so a ground and water team supported its endeavour, under the project One Man, One River. Among them, Vali Rimbu, who closely accompanied Avram Iancu in a kayak, together with a cameraman.
Just Living Is Not Enough
We need to live for more than just life. In 2020, Vali Rimbu paddled 155 km from Galati to Sulina, in a project started by an ONG from Galati. It was designed to raise funds for a hidrokinetotherapy pool for children with cerebral palsy. He made it in only one day, alone in a kayak, and he raised 17000 RON (about 3500 euros) through GALANTOM, a fundraising platform. ”Does it seem like a lot to paddle 155 km in a kayak? I say it doesn’t compare to the effort of a child with spastic paraparesis trying to get a glass of water to his mouth. That’s why I join the effort made by “Zi de BINE” Association to raise funds for children with disabilities. The collected amount will be used to build a hydrokinetotherapy pool for the “Imi place viata” Association from Galati” – this was Vali’s urge for this project.
A Dragon Boat for Galati
In 2021, the athletes in Galati were in need of a special boat to compete – a Dragon Boat. Vali made a race around the Big Island of Braila, on the Danube to Gropeni, on the Valciu canal to the intersection with the Macin canal, 85 km upstream, then downstream on the Macin canal, to Braila-Galati, 115 km. He paddled 200 km, alone, in 32 hours, without a sleep break, raising funds, together with others for the beautiful boat you see below. His relationship with the kids is special, especialy with the ones who are part of the Kayak and Canoe Clubs in the area. For them he loves to organize recreation camps inside Imbold Base in Parches and Danube Delta where kids come together with their coaches.
Adopt the pace of Nature
In 2021 Vali decided, seeing that one of the pavilions in Balta Mica a Brailei is compromised, to go and repair it. You can enter Balta Mica if the Danube at Braila is over 4.5 meters only. You cross the navigable Danube a little above the Braila shipyard, and after 3 km upstream on the Cravia channel you enter Gura Paioasei inside Fundu Mare Island. He went three times, once he stayed overnight, on one of the days he had a helper, he carried the planks with the double kayak and did not leave until he repaired it. The metal structure was ok, but the planks were rotten. Every time we manage to enter Balta Mica, we reach that pavilion, climb the stairs from the kayak and admire the landscape.
