Central Balkan National Park

Bulgaria
4 days in July 2006

This is a national park in the heart of the Bulgarian part of the Stara Planina range.
The nature is truly untouched and the topography is surprisingly spectacular.

 

We started in the town Karlovo, where we slept in a dormitory.
This is the entrance to the impressive Stara Reka canyon.
 

Very nice forest along the canyon.
 

We then followed the beautiful Stara Reka river.
 

Eating in a hut.
 

Swimming in a natural pool of emerald green water.
 

Top of the forest.
 

View over the Stara Reka reserve.
 

Hundreds of gigantic crickets jumped over the path.
 

 
 

Paradise for forest lovers...
 
 

Lots of impressive cliffs, with high but thin waterfalls.
 

Chamoise running on the cliffs.
 

Plenty of colorful flowers.
 

Sunset above the ridge.
 

The highest waterfall in Bulgaria - 125 m.
 

A closer view of the Waterfall.
 

Walking from Botev to Pleven, we had great views of the Dzhenedema (=hell) reserve.
 

Impressed by the scenery.
 

 
 

Pleven hut.
 

View from Pleven.
 

A "glacier" in the beech forest...
 

 
 

Back to the ridge.
 

The faked smile tried to hide that I was actually completely exhausted...
 

 
 

I then walked stomach sick and didnt concentrate too much on the landscape. But I did notice that we had reached a pine forest for the first time.
 

The stomach (diarrea + headache) didn't go away, so we went down to Sopot with a lift. This day we meet these very nice young bulgarians. I met up with Boby (to the left) in Sofia and had a good night out.