Anna has me in raptures as she bathes in the late afternoon sun. Shaking her head from side to side, she flicks a halo of water droplets skyward from her glossy hair in movie-starlet-like splendour. All that’s missing is the slow mo.

Spotting Anna, one of the estimated 6,000 brown bears in central Romania’s Fagaras Mountains, is an auspicious start to a week in this region, particularly since she’s accompanied by four others.

Bulky mature males and a lanky juvenile, with the awkward movements of someone only just getting to grips with their limbs, are all eager to share the bounty of sweet corn kernels scattered by “bear whisperer” Peter Levente, one of the permanent staff here on the Zabola Estate.

“You can get them here almost every day,” says Bence Máté, a Hungarian award-winning w

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