Читать книгу Walking in Bulgaria's National Parks. Pirin, Rila and Central Balkans National Parks онлайн

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Bulgaria is blessed with a unique natural heritage and an amazing variety of landscapes and eco-systems. To the east lies the Black Sea, with its rocky capes, sandy beaches and sheltered bays, while to the north is the Danube, fringed by lakes and marshes, and bordered by an ever-alternating succession of low hills, elevated plateaus and broad steppe-like plains. But it is the majestic mountains that dominate Bulgaria, forming the physical heartland of the country. There you will find rugged alpine peaks and ridges with deep caves and precipitous gorges, surrounded by an extensive cloak of sub-alpine pastures, scrubs and peat-bogs. These then give way to ancient coniferous and beech forests, and lower still a zone of oak and hornbeam, as well as lush flower-filled meadows that surround small rural settlements where the local people still live a traditional pastoral life.

Because of its location, varied climate, relief and geological structure, Bulgaria has an outstandingly rich flora, with more than 3900 species of higher plants, made up of Central European, Carpathian, Mediterranean and Pontic species, as well as many unique Balkan and Bulgarian endemics which constitute about eight per cent of Bulgaria’s flora. There are also some 52 species of ferns, 4000 species of algae, 670 species of moss and 600 species of lichen.