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.