The Central Balkan National Park () is a national park in the heart of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, nestled in the central and higher portions of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

. Its altitude varies from near the town of

Karlovo Karlovo ( ) is a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains. It is administratively part of Plovdiv Province and has a population of about 1 ...

to at

Botev Peak Botev Peak ( ) is, at above sea level, the highest peak of the Balkan Mountains in southeastern Europe. It is located close to the geographic centre of Bulgaria, and is part of the Central Balkan National Park. Until 1950, when it was renamed ...

, the highest summit in the range. It was established on 31 October 1991. The park is the third-largest protected territory in Bulgaria, spanning an area of 716.69 km² with a total length of 85 km from west to east and an average width of 10 km. It occupies parts of 5 of the country's 28 provinces:

Lovech Lovech (, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near Lovech are the towns of ...

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( ) is a city in central northern Bulgaria, the Local government, administrative centre of Gabrovo Province.It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an international ca ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

and

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

. The national park also includes nine

nature reserves A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

, covering 28% of its territory: Boatin, Tsarichina, Kozya Stena, Steneto, Severen Dzhendem, Peeshti Skali, Sokolna,

Dzhendema Dzhendema or Djendema ( ) is a nature reserve in the Balkan mountain range in Bulgaria. The Southern Dzhendem, or just Dzhendema, occupies the southern slopes of Mount Botev . It was established as reserve on March 28, 1953. Djendema encompasse ...

and

Stara Reka Stara is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Aleksandrów, within Piotrków County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Aleksandrów, south-east of Piotrków Trybunalski, and south-east of ...

. The Central Balkan National Park is one of the largest and most valuable of the protected areas in Europe. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) has listed the Park as Category 2. The national park and eight of the nine nature reserves are on the UN list of Representative Protected Areas, and four of the nature reserves are included in the

World Network of Biosphere Reserves The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, known as biosphere or nature reserves, which are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature (e.g. encourage susta ...

under the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Man and Biosphere Programme. The park was a full member of the WWF-led

PAN Parks The PAN Parks Foundation was a non-governmental organisation that aimed to protect Europe's wildernesses. The foundation filed for bankruptcy in May 2014 in The Netherlands, but was denied the status by the court and is currently in liquidation. ...

foundation. Since 2017, the ancient beech forests within all nine park reserves have been included in the Primeval Beech Forests

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The park falls within the

Rodope montane mixed forests The Rodope montane mixed forests is a terrestrial ecoregion of Europe defined by the WWF. It belongs in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome and the Palearctic realm. Geography The Rodope montane mixed forests cover the higher parts ...

terrestrial

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

of the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

temperate broadleaf and mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. Thes ...

. It is home to rare and endangered wildlife species and communities, self-regulating ecosystems of biological diversity, as well as historical sites of global cultural and scientific significance. The park's

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

includes 2,340 species and subspecies of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s. Forests occupy 56% of the total area. There are 59 species of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, 224 species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, 14 species of

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s, 8 species of

amphibia Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods, but excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic ...

and 6 species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, as well as 2,387 species of invertebrates.

History

The Central Balkan National Park was established in 1991 to conserve the unique natural scenery and heritage of this area and protect the customs and livelihood of the local population. The Park Directorate, a regional body of the Ministry of the Environment and Waters, manages the Park. The Directorate engages local organizations, volunteers, and mountain enthusiasts in pursuing its goals.

Park statistics

* Area: 71,669.5 hectares * Total length: 85 km * Average width: 10 km * Highest peak:

at 2,376 meters above sea level * Lowest elevation: near

, about 500 meters above sea level * Wooded area: 44,000.8 hectares * Treeless area: 27,668.7 hectares * 70% of all ecosystems are natural * There are 9 nature reserves, with a combined area of 20,019 hectares

Ecosystems

Centuries-old forests of

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives ...

, and

durmast oak ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Welsh oak, Cornish oak, Irish oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unof ...

cover most of the park. More than half of Bulgaria's native flora has been identified within the park, and of these, 10 species and two subspecies are endemic, found nowhere else in the world. Over 130 higher plants and animals encountered in the Central Balkan National Park are listed in the Bulgarian and the World

Red Book of Endangered Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

. There are 166 known species of medicinal plants within park boundaries, 12 of which are protected by law. In addition, there are 229 species of moss, 256 species of mushrooms, and 208 species of algae. The central portion of the Balkan Range is home to 70% of all invertebrate organisms and 62% of all vertebrate animals in Bulgaria. There are 224 separate species of birds, making the Central Balkan National Park an important international bird refuge. The EU-funded

CORINE Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) is a European programme initiated in 1985 by the European Commission, aimed at gathering information relating to the environment on certain priority topics for the European Union (air, water ...

BIOTOPS Project created a habitat classification methodology and 49 of the CORINE-classified habitat types are represented in the Central Balkan National Park. Of these, 24 are included on the 'List of Endangered Habitats', requiring special protection measures pursuant to the EU Convention on Habitats.

Terrain

The park's topography includes large alpine meadows, vertical rock faces, precipices, deep canyons, and waterfalls, as well as numerous mountain peaks, of which some 20 are situated at altitudes of 2,000 meters or higher. The Central Balkan National Park is a favorite spot for tourists, naturalists, and scientists alike.

References

External links

Central Balkan National Park - Official web siteCentral Balkan National Park Photo Gallery

Central Balkan National Park Image Gallery
{{Authority control National parks of Bulgaria Biosphere reserves of Bulgaria Balkan mountains Protected areas established in 1991 Geography of Gabrovo Province Tourist attractions in Gabrovo Province Geography of Lovech Province Tourist attractions in Lovech Province Geography of Stara Zagora Province Tourist attractions in Stara Zagora Province Geography of Plovdiv Province Tourist attractions in Plovdiv Province Geography of Sofia Province Tourist attractions in Sofia Province 1991 establishments in Bulgaria Primeval Beech Forests in Europe