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Key Facts and Figures

Country name Republic of Bulgaria Capital Sofia Surface area 110,993.6km2 Population (2007) 7,640,238 Ethnicity (2001) Bulgarian 83.9%, Turkish 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% Religion (2001) Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other 5.2% Language Bulgarian 84.5%, other 15.5% Alphabet Cyrillic Currency lev Time Zone GMT + 2hrs National day 3 March (Liberation from the Ottoman Turks) International Dialing Code +359 Mountain Rescue Telephone 02-9632000

PART 1

THE CENTRAL BALKAN NATIONAL PARK

Cascade in valley of Kostina Reka along trail to Hizha Benkovski (Walk 1)

INTRODUCTION

With stern and frowning brow, behind a cloak of cloud, The Balkan Range arises in the distance, high and proud…

Pencho Slaveykov, The Song of Blood (1913)

Topography

Stretching right across Bulgaria for about 520km, from the Serbian border in the west to Cape Emine on the Black Sea coast in the east, the Stara Planina (meaning ‘old mountains’), or Balkan Mountains as they are often known, form the backbone of Bulgaria, both physically as well as in the nation’s psyche. The range as a whole covers an area of some 11,600km2, about one-tenth of Bulgaria’s total land mass, and has 29 peaks that top 2000m.