Dumbrava Sibiului Nature Reserve

Dumbrava Forest lies on the south-western edge of Sibiu, about 4 kilometres from the centre, along county road 106A to Rășinari. The protected area was declared by Law 5 of 6 March 2000 under the name „Parcul Natural Dumbrava Sibiului” (Dumbrava Sibiului Natural Park), but it is listed among nature reserves and natural monuments and corresponds to IUCN category IV (nature reserve), not to a natural park in the strict sense. It covers 993 hectares and has the code RONPA0723. Its highest point is Obreja Peak (606 m), in the north of the forest. The dominant tree is pedunculate oak, some over 100 years old, alongside sessile oak, hornbeam, lime, elm, field maple and pine; the understorey includes privet, hawthorn, alder buckthorn, dog rose and blackthorn, while meadows and clearings hold autumn crocus and several orchid species. A 2026 form of the Ministry of Environment designated a biodiversity priority zone of about 832 hectares, 84% of the reserve, for Dacian oak and hornbeam forests (habitat 91Y0). The forest is home to amphibians protected at European level, such as the yellow-bellied toad, the European tree frog and the agile frog, and to bats such as the greater mouse-eared bat and the common noctule. The Trinkbach stream flows through the forest and forms three artificial lakes. Mammals include roe deer, wild boar, fox and squirrel, and birds include blackbird, hoopoe, turtle dove, cuckoo, jay and chaffinch. The ASTRA open-air museum, the Zoo, the former Dumbrava Inn (now a hotel) and the site of the former Dumbrava carpet factory are surrounded by the reserve but are not part of it. The forest is reached on county road 106A.