Chilia Branch

The Chilia Branch is the northern arm of the Danube in the Danube Delta. It splits from the river at Ceatalul Chiliei (the Pătlăgeanca bifurcation), upstream of Tulcea, and flows north-east to the Black Sea over 111 km. For most of its course its thalweg forms the border between Romania and Ukraine: on the right, Romanian bank lie the villages of Chilia Veche and Periprava, and on the left bank the Ukrainian towns of Izmail, Kiliia and Vylkove. It carries roughly half of the Danube's discharge (sources give between 50 and 60%) and is navigable for barges and seagoing ships. It is the youngest of the Danube's branches, estimated at about 2,000 years old. In medieval Byzantine and Genoese chronicles it appears as Lykostoma or Licostomo ("the wolves' mouth"), a name also used for a fortified port near its mouth. By the late 14th century it had become the main navigation route through the delta, and it was contested by Byzantines, Genoese, Wallachians, Moldavians, Ottomans and Russians. The border along its thalweg was set by the Russo-Turkish Treaty of Bucharest in 1812 and confirmed after 1940 and by the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty; a 1948 Romanian-Soviet protocol moved it south of the thalweg on some stretches, along the Tatomir, Old Stambul and Musura channels. Today the branch is best seen from the water. Tourist route 3 of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority (ARBDD), Tulcea, Stipoc Canal, Chilia Veche, also follows the Chilia Branch on the official map, and route 12 starts from Chilia Veche along the edge of the Roșca-Buhaiova strictly protected area. From Sulina, route 13 goes along the Cardon Canal to Periprava and into Musura Bay, at the mouth of the branch. Navrom Delta passenger ships run regularly on the Chilia Branch; in March 2022, after the war in Ukraine began, the Tulcea to Periprava service was temporarily suspended and replaced by road transport. In the channels around Chilia Veche, especially the Tătaru branch, anglers catch wels catfish, carp, pike and zander. Any visit to the reserve requires the ARBDD access permit, sold online, by SMS or at the information centres. The Chilia Branch is part of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, recognised as a UNESCO biosphere reserve (1990), a Ramsar wetland (1991) and a World Heritage Site (1991), and of the Natura 2000 sites ROSCI0065 Danube Delta and ROSPA0031 Danube Delta and Razim-Sinoie Complex. The secondary delta on Ukrainian territory is protected by the Danube Biosphere Reserve, based in Vylkove; together the two form a transboundary biosphere reserve recognised by UNESCO. Did you know that for about a century and a half the Chilia Branch has been building its own secondary delta? Its sediments advance quickly into the sea off Periprava and Vylkove, and this young delta splits into nine secondary channels, including Belgorod, Prorva, Ochakiv, Old Stambul and Musura.