Walking Europe's Last Wilderness: A Journey through the Carpathian Mountains

by Nick Thorpe

An evocative voyage through the Carpathian mountain range and its threatened landscape, peoples, and history
 
The Carpathian Mountains of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine are Europe’s last true wilderness. A landscape of great spruce and beech forests, grass meadows, and ancient villages, its people contend daily with the elements—as well as Europe’s last large carnivores. But this fragile ecosystem is now under threat, from climate change and illegal logging.
 
Journeying from the banks of the Danube to Transylvania, Nick Thorpe guides us through the history and ecology of the watershed of Europe, between the Black Sea and the Baltic. For a thousand years the Carpathians have been a place of refuge, of identity and belonging, where powerful rulers and dynasties fought to gain control over rich gold seams and the unruly inhabitants of strategic valleys. Today, its inhabitants struggle to protect its vast forest habitat from urban sprawl as well as logging.
 
Drawing on interviews with shepherds, foresters and loggers, and his four decades of experience in the region, Thorpe sheds light on a neglected part of Europe—where bears, wolves, chamois, and lynxes still roam.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Nature, History, Walking

400 pages, Hardcover

Published February 11, 2025

Reviews

[Jack Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stories over years spent in incredibly interesting parts of Europe. A great mix of history, culture and environment that suits anyone with interest in these areas without being dominated by any one.

I bought it more for the ecology aspect but the most gripping chapter was on Ukrainian refugees crossing remote mountain borders. It was gripping. In the UK you often forget there are places in Europe of genuine wilderness.

[cypher · Rating 1 out of 5]

it starts incredibly offensive, first chapter, first page:
“ "It’s true they weren’t mine according to the land register. But they were mine according to God’s will, because I was born there and that’s where I became a man. Give me back my mountains!" (…), Hungarian writer.”
this is sponsored content to support hungarian propaganda against Romania regarding claims about Transylvania, going at it straight up political right from the start.
it’s not “God’s will”, it’s propaganda. i am romanian, i am from there, and it is mine in the land register too. making this a matter or "God" brought a new level of hypocrisy to it, bringing religion into it and Divine claim...we suddenly found our selves in the times of the crusades, fighting for God here...as a religious person i find this highly disturbing and even more offensive. the interest in Transylvania is economical, it has touristic potential and natural resources...no wonder that if a claim could exist, it does, it represents money, that "religion"...the hypocrisy is massive..."God's will", even God would be offended...
give me a break with this offensive sponsored book! they are our mountains. but, yes, they are nice and should be protected.
it’s also starting off by saying various untrue things like blaming Romania for incoming illegal immigrants into Europe, and desperately trying to focus the problem to support a specific political agenda low key…but, hey, it’s about the mountains “apparently”…
very quickly after starting it, it made me sick to my stomach, what a bit of corruption can do, using a nobel cause, like the topic of this book, to try to subtly manipulate what people see. i was very disappointed and upset with this book and its political attempt. the author (according to Hungarian Review) "has lived in Budapest since 1986, reporting on East Central Europe and the Balkans for the BBC" and other british news organisations, i guess it makes sense for him to support and come say all this. now i'm thinking if reporting looks like this, BBC is definitely biased...but, hey, Hungary is probably happy with BBC's reporter. british reporter living in Hungary repeatedly tries to discredit one country (Romania) in favour of his favourite (Hungary)...what's expected about how things look and people's opinion...

…wanna stir up something in the EU, because maybe Brexit was not enough, i guess you could try to do a few various things like this all over the place. no.
this book is better off free, what the author did was that cheap.

[Finnegan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Thorpe provides a fantastic view of the cultural and ecological experience throughout the carpathian range. His writing style jumps from anecdote and fact to another anecdote or fact, meaning it can be a very non-linear read. That being said, understanding the through line about borders, cultural identity, and ecological conservation will connect all the different topics he focuses on, providing a fantastic account of the region. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in applied conservation, the culture of the carpathian region, or what it actually means to have a border.

One of the best reads I have ever had, I look forward to exploring the rest of Nick Thorpes work in the future.

[Adrian Fingleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but the levels of historic detail in the places that the author walked through defeated me in the end. I think I was looking for more of a 'current travelogue' but the successive issues faced by 'mountain people' from Russians, Nazis, Communists, Eco-terrorists and others tended to make me 'zone out'. A very comprehensive book, but perhaps I was looking for a less detailed one.

[Claire Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this on the recommendation of a friend who is keen on ecology and biodiversity like me. I was a bit disappointed that this was only tackled in the last 100 pages, and there was much more about the people that he met, rather than the walking. However it was lovely to read about an area I have visited and consider to be one of my favourite places in the world - so evocative on that basis.

[Klara Szydlo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Objectively good, but I found it heavy going. Pictures would have helped to understand the geography better! I learned a few interesting things, but there was a disappointingly small mention of Poland.

[David Corleto-Bales]

An interesting travelogue of the Carpathian Mountains of Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and Romania, the wildest part of Europe, where bears and folk customs reign, the food and wine are excellent, and the travel not the easiest.

[Peter Norman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on a number of walks over several years and this shows. Quite disjointed and jumps between unrelated topics. Some great passages but reads like a collection of anecdotes rather than as a coherent story.

[Caro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thorpe is all over the place, with lots of anecdotes but no big picture. I concentrated on the Romania parts and must admit that I didn't finish it.