Sunday, April 30, 2017

Our recent trip to Bulgaria, April 2017

We have just returned from a very enjoyable trip to the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria. The main purpose of our trip, and our number one target, was to see the European Brown Bear. Our trip was booked with Neophron Tours. A very good friend, Jonny Barnard, came with us and we all met up at Sophia Airport where our guide, Minko Madzharov, was waiting for us. Minko was a fabulous guide, he worked tirelessly for us and is a very likeable chap with a fantastic sense of humour. We definately had a laugh that's for sure !

There are two bear watching hides that Neophron use. Our first night was spent in the basic one that was a massive hike to get to. We went up in a Lada 4 x 4 as far as it could get and then walked the last half hour to the hide. On the way we passed a scratching tree and some poo so our hopes of seeing a bear were very high indeed. It was so exciting looking out in hope but soon the weather closed in and the fog fell upon us for a while, I really felt like crying !  But as night time came the wind picked up slightly and the fog did clear. The hide was actually quite warm and there were blankets to get wrapped up in when the nightime temperature dropped. But the night passed and dawn arrived and we sat there until 7am with not a bear sighting. Our driver had put out a bucketfull of food but this had been taken by a pair of greedy ravens. A male brown bear had been seen from this hide a couple of weeks ago but we were not too sure if food had been put out inbetween this sighting and our visit.

The following night we decided on a the luxury hide so just after tea we were picked up and driven up a different mountain for the night. We soon made ourselves comfortable in the hide for the night shift. Our driver had pointed out a footprint from a bear that had visited during the day....our hopes were high. The bears had just emerged from their hibernation so, knowing they would be very hungry, we thought we would definately be in for a sighting. A full night passed but all we attracted was a group of wild boar that stayed for about an hour, having their fill of maize. The following morning we headed back down the slopes to sleep for the morning in our hotel before heading back up in the afternoon for another visit.

We spent well over 30 hours in these hides, hoping to see a bear but afraid we didn't have any luck. We were sinking into despondency as was our guide so we all decided to cut our losses and the following day we headed into a different area for three days birding.....and that was fantastic!




Saturday, April 29, 2017

Bears, Bulgaria

A scratching tree 

Bear poo 

This Lada took us to the top of the mountain ! 

The 'bear watching' hide that we spent many, many hours in


Our view from the hide, we looked at this view for hours and hours and hours and then when it was dark, the light came on and we looked at it for yet more hours 


One of the feeders, filled with maize, about a sack full. They were so heavy that I couldn't move it, yet wild boar pushed it around to get the food each night. They tossed it around as if it weighed nothing. You can see that it's chained to a tree to make sure it stays put. There were two of these, one each side of the hide in the trees.  

A bear footprint 

One of the feeders that had constant visits from a large family of jays 

This was the first hide at the start of our trip. This hide was basic, but quite warm. It was a massive hike to get to it. Our driver put out food for the bears but that was soon taken by a pair of ravens, stashing it away. The weather closed in and this was our view for a while, but the wind got up and the fog did clear for a while. It was a long night but our hopes were up as a male bear had been seen in this area a couple of weeks ago. Despite a full night watching all we had was roe deer and pine marten.  

This was the most luxurious of the two hides with a couple of beds at the back and a chemical toilet. Our hopes were again high, the beginning of another stint in the hide, hoping and praying for bear but afraid no luck.

Bulgaria birds


Spanish sparrows nesting in the bottom of storks nests 



Spanish Sparrows 







Syrian Woodpecker - the only new bird that Karen added to her world list 




Turtle Doves - we saw flocks and flocks of these, some as large as 100. They were on all the wires, feeding in all the fields, absolutely everywhere. A total contrast to the UK.  





Souslik





Souaslik - so cute. Eagle fodder ! 
A new addition to our mammal list. 

A few more Bulgaria snaps



Yes it really was this cold in the mountains with temperatures down to -7 degrees at night.


Everyone had a woodpile ! 

Trabant !! 

Some very interesting rock formations 


A Judus Tree 

The second hotel on our trip had a swimming pool ........fancy a dip ?! 


Every village still had a well 


Festoon butterfly 



Simon and Minko