Bulgaria’s exceptional natural history is well known to travelers who have previously taken part in our wildlife holidays. This combined nature tour is designed to diversify our mountain birding, butterfly and botanical experience by introducing you to the rich wildlife of Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece.

Day 1

The tour starts from Sofia at 14.00 p.m. at the latest. Participants will be picked up either at Sofia Airport, where they are requested to arrive by 14.00 (2.00 p.m.), or at their accommodation in the city of Sofia, if they have arrived the previous day(s). Then we will drive south, to the western part of the Rila Mountains (2 hours drive), where we will stay for one night in the area of the Rila Monastery. If time allows, we can explore the area around the hotel.

Day 2

We will spend most of the day in the Rilska River Valley, where the impressive Rila Monastery is located. This is a medieval monastery with magnificent murals and icons, included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In this area we can expect to see the Spotted Nutcracker, Common Crossbill, Ring Ouzel (ssp. alpestris), Common Firecrest, Goldcrest, Willow Tit, Rock Bunting, Black Woodpecker, as well as a wide variety of flowers and butterflies in beautiful mountain scenery.

Late afternoon – one hour and a half hour drive to the town of Bansko in the northern foothills of the Pirin Mountains, where we will stay for two nights.

Day 3

Today we will visit the northern part of the Pirin National Park. We will explore the high mountain coniferous forests, composed mainly of the Bosnian Pine (Pinus heldreichii) and Macedonian Pine (Pinus peuce), the high mountain grasslands and the alpine zone. Here we can see Golden Eagle, Alpine Chough, Spotted Nutcracker, Common Crossbill, Ring Ouzel (ssp. alpestris), Common Firecrest and Goldcrest, Willow Tit, as well as some beautifully flowering rare and endemic plants such as Primula elatior, Centaurea kotschiana, Verbascum davidoffii, Daphne oleoides, Daphne cneorum, Aquilegia aurea, Campanula velebitica, Campanula trychocalycina, Saxifraga luteo-viridis,  Saxifraga sempervivum, Viola orbelica. The Apollo butterfly is very likely to be found here too, as well as many other representatives of the butterfly fauna such as the Balkan Copper, Balkan Marbled White, Higgin’s Anomalous Blue, Phalakron Blue, Amanda’s Blue, Meleager’s Blue, Yellow-banded Skipper, Balkan Fritillary. Here we will have a very good chance to see the Balkan Chamois too.

Day 4

Transfer to Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece.

After a few days in the mountains, we will descend along the Struma River valley and cross the Bulgarian-Greek border to Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece.

On the way to the south we will explore the Kresna Gorge along the Struma River, where we can expect to see the Griffon Vulture, Golden Eagle, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern Orphean Warbler, etc. Further down along the river we will have excellent chances to see Levant Sparrowhawk, Long-legged Buzzard, European Roller and European Bee-eater.

We will arrive in the Kerkini area in the late afternoon and check-in for two nights.

Day 5

Full day at Lake Kerkini.

Picturesquely nestled between two separate mountain ranges, Lake Kerkini is one of the true jewels of European birding and the heart of a nature reserve that is a relatively unexplored wonderland of beauty and biological diversity. Numerous Great White Pelicans, Dalmatian Pelicans, Pygmy Cormorants, Squacco Heron and Black-crowned Night Herons, European Rollers and European Bee-eaters, riparian forests, water lilies and fantastic panoramic views from the mountains of Belasitsa and Krousia give it a characteristic atmosphere. The combination of water birds, flora and fauna, good weather for much of the year and a virtually traffic-free track around the lake make it ideal for wildlife watching.

Day 6

Transfer back to Bulgaria – to the Melnik area, in the foothills of the southern Pirin and Slavyanka Mountains, where we will spend a few more days. The town of Melnik will be our base for the next two nights. Melnik is one of those traditional mountain settlements turned into open-air museums of handicrafts and architecture, where you can feel what life was like a century or two ago. It is also famous for its locally produced wines.

On our way from Lake Kerkini to Melnik we will stop at various places for birdwatching and wildlife watching.

Day 7

Full day around Melnik. The climate and the flora here are predominantly Mediterranean, the dry and rocky terrain encouraging a variety of butterflies and dragonflies to add their color to the displays of wild flowers. Great Banded Grayling, Swallowtail, Freyer’s Purple Emperor and Hungarian Glider are just a few of the butterflies recorded here. The interesting birds to be seen include the Long-legged Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle, European Bee-eater, Eurasian Hoopoe, Rock Sparrow, Greater Short-toed Lark, Calandra Lark, Tawny Pipit, Isabelline Wheatear, etc. We can also visit the Rozhen Monastery (30 minutes by car from Melnik).

Day 8

Transfer to the Trigrad area of the Western Rhodopes via the pass in the southern part of the Pirin Mountains. On the way we will stop at many picturesque places with lots of flowers, butterflies and dragonflies, meadows and small wetlands. In the late afternoon we will arrive in the area of Trigrad and stay there for two nights.

Day 9

The Western Rhodopes and the Trigrad Gorge

The Rhodopes are a mountain range of a completely different nature from the Pirin and Rila mountains visited earlier. Their western part with rounded, pine-covered hills is occasionally cut by streams and rivers that flow through deep gorges. One of them is the famous Trigrad Gorge – the realm of the Wallcreeper. We will spend most of our time there looking for and observing this beautiful bird. Other birds that can be seen in the area include the Hazel Grouse, Peregrine Falcon, Black Woodpecker, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Alpine Swift, Eurasian Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, European Serin, etc. The range of interesting and colorful plants here includes Sideritis scardica, Scabiosa rhodopensis, Campanula cervicaria, Hypericum montbretii, Verbascum humile and several species of orchids.

Day 10

Transfer further east to the Eastern Rhodope Mountains. The drive will take about 5 hours, but we will stop several times along the way. We will arrive in the Eastern Rhodopes in the late afternoon and stay for two nights in Krumovgrad.

Day 11

The Eastern Rhodopes (Krumovgrad and Madzharovo area)

The view of the Eastern Rhodopes is quite different – it is a mountain of jagged peaks, towering cliffs and sparsely vegetated, rocky slopes. The most spectacular birds residents there are the Griffon Vultures, as well as the Eurasian Black (Cinereous) Vulture and Egyptian Vulture, which are also frequent visitors of the feeding places, plus White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle and Eastern Imperial Eagle. In the different habitats we will explore here we will see many Black Storks feeding in the rivers, as well as Chukar, Eurasian Scops Owl, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Barred Warbler, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Eastern Subalpine Warbler, Olive-tree Warbler, Sombre Tit, Cirl Bunting, etc.

Day 12

Transfer to Sofia with stops along the way for birding and wildlife viewing.

On the spot we will decide which places to visit today depending on the success with wildlife viewing in the previous days and the weather conditions.

Overnight in Sofia

Day 13

Day of departure. If we have time before departure, we can do a sightseeing in Sofia, incl. Boyana Church (UNESCO site), or we could visit the Vitosha Mountain in the southern outskirts of Sofia.