I'D read the autobiography of Queen Marie of Romania when I was a schoolgirl, and the beautifully written, fascinating account of her life in that lovely, impoverished country stayed in my memory.

One day, I vowed, I would go there and see it for myself.

This year I found a Wildlife Trek in the Transylvanian Mountains, organised for bird watchers and botanists - so, greatly daring, I joined the party.

We strangers, led by a highly experienced naturalist, flew to Bucharest. Four hours later a minibus brought us to a small, friendly guesthouse at Zarnesti, within walking distance of Dracula's Bran Castle.

The others were keen, highly experienced specialists but they didn't mock my lack of knowledge.

They kept stopping to examine things - a yellow-bellied toad, a sand lizard, a mole cricket (thought to be extinct in the UK), purple orchids, the wonderful cerise of wild dianthus - so that I could keep up with them.

Wildlife in Romania is so lush because of the traditional farming methods. Horses and carts - sometimes ox carts - are widely used still, and our first day's travel was by covered cart to a deep gorge in the Pietra Cranilu (Rock of the King) National Park.

On the climb between steep cliffs we looked for rare red-winged wall-creepers. We were unlucky, but the day - with a river of melted snow tumbling down beside us, and the many greens of beech and pine foliage - was unforgettable.

On other days a minibus took us (and our packed lunches) over the rough, pot-holed mountain roads to the start of our treks.

Dogs seemed to be everywhere, and often attached themselves to our party, but they seemed well cared for and eventually trotted off home.

Two Romanians, a young woman called Simona and a young man called Szilard, accompanied us all the time.

This was helpful because, if the excursion was a particularly arduous one, the group could divide.

The super-fit completed it, and a small group of less fit mortals took an easier route. We were then picked up at different points by the minibus.

We found butterflies in abundance in the flower-rich mountain meadows - Clouded Apollo, Berger's Clouded Yellow, Meadow Fritillary and, my personal favourite, the Evil Eye (black with brown edges). One of the most wonderful sights, which we visited twice, was the narcissi woods of the Dumbrava Vadului Nature Reserve. There we saw sheets of wild white narcissi in flower among wild irises.

The scent was heavenly, like Easter in church at home, and, with viburnum in flower and birch trees all around us, the setting was quite lovely.

The forests of Transylvania are firmly controlled and very well cared for. One day we were able to have lunch at a foresters' lodge.

Simona brought lunch from Zarnesti by car and set it up on trestle tables under the trees. The lodge was locked, so "only chlorophyll loos", our guide said, waving towards a clump of bushes in the distance!

We were not allowed to enter the forest without a forest ranger, for bears and wolves roam there.

When we went bear-watching at dusk the ranger was armed. We were able to do this on two occasions, climbing up to well-constructed hides with a clear view from the windows.

A ranger put a mixture of grain and chocolate into bins among the trees (bears have a very sweet tooth - remember Winnie the Pooh?) and as dusk fell the bears came out.

They were experienced at tackling the bins and ate heartily, but they monitored their surroundings as they did so. A mother and two cubs enjoyed the feast until, at a sudden signal from her, they all bounded out of the clearing and the cubs shot up trees.

We spent a day at the Dumbrovita Fishing Complex, a huge, protected area of lakes, marsh and hay meadows, offering fishing, birdwatching and protection for breeding and migrating birds.

The party leader brought a telescope and I saw close up a little sedge warbler singing his heart out. We saw eagles, great crested grebe and purple heron among many others, against the constant racket from frogs. Tadpoles and frogs abounded.

As we walked beside the shallows of the lake, huge green frogs leapt out of them and into deeper water. Frogs are a staple food for the many birds, of course, so they need to reproduce vigorously.

Before our week ended we visited Brasov, a university town with an opera house and lovely public park, and saw the spot where Genghis Khan and the Mongols invaded in 1482.

And we went to Bran Castle, traditionally the haunt of Vlad the Impaler and the legendary Dracula. I ignored these traditions, for Bran Castle became, in the 1920s, the summer residence of the Romanian royal family.

Queen Marie had made it both dramatic and a home, filling it with Persian pottery, old silver and Renaissance furniture.

On the flat land below she created elaborate gardens and I sat in the sunshine in the old courtyard, well content with my visit to Romania and the land beloved of Queen Marie.

Factfile

For more information on wildlife trekking in Transylvania, write to: Naturetrek, Cheriton Mill, Cheriton Alresford, Hants SO24 ONG, call 01962 733051 or visit naturetrek.co.uk