The Kamchiya (also Kamchia and Kamčija, ) is a river in eastern
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 ...
. From its longest source, Golyama Kamchiya (Big Kamchiya), it has a total length of (. The river Kamchiya proper starts from the confluence of the two rivers springing from Eastern
Stara Planina
The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs for about , first ...
, Golyama Kamchiya (itself formed by the confluence of the rivers Ticha and Vrana) and Luda Kamchiya (considered major source), flows eastward to the Black Sea and empties into it 25 km south of
Varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city
** Varna Province
** Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
** Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
* Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
* Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia
Asia
* Var ...
In antiquity, the river was known as ''Panisos''; later,
Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...
gave it the name of ''Ticha''. Its contemporary name is considered to be of
Cuman
The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as " ...
origin. The Romans built the stronghold ''Erite'' on its bank. The Kamchia basin played a notable role in the history of the
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...
. Much of the Medieval Bulgarian Navy from the 9th to the 14th century was built at the river mouth thanks to the quality timber of the area. In the 18th century,
Lipovans
The Lipovans or Lippovans are ethnic Russians, Russian Old Believers living in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria who settled in the Principality of Moldavia, in the east of the Principality of Wallachia (Muntenia), and in the regions of D ...
settled along the lower banks.
Geography and ecology
Running down through Eastern
Stara Planina
The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs for about , first ...
biosphere reserve
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 geologic ...
protecting the primeval forest from intensive logging and drainage that had decimated it by mid-20th century. The river mouth forms a sand barrier and often overflows its banks in the valley. The old synclines of the river leave swampy areas called azmatsi. The reserve is 40 km long (stretching throughout the longose grove to the river mouth) and up to 5 km wide.
The area around the river mouth is remarkable for its (frequently flooded)
old growth forest
An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...
s of a riverine type, up to 450 meter-wide beaches with up to 19 meter-high banks, forested or grass-covered sand dunes, freshwater marshes, and marshy remnants of old riverbeds, cutting deep into the forest. The unusual coexistence of ash,
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
,
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...
,
alder
Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...
and
maple
''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
trees, sometimes rising up to 40–50 m with lianas climbing among the branches, creates the impression of a tropical forest, a real tangle of woods. The summer snowflake (''Leucojum aestivum'') and several
buttercup
''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots.
The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...
species (''Scilla'' sp.), as well as
fern
The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...
s, grow in the river delta. One can see
otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...
,
deer
A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
,
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
and
wild cat
Felidae ( ) is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ).
The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestria ...
s among the 26 mammal species. There are
osprey
The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...
s,
eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
Varna Province
Varna Province (), formerly known as Varna okrug, is a province in eastern Bulgaria, one of the 28 Bulgarian provinces. It comprises 12 municipalities with a population of 494,216 as of April 2016.Tsonevo], which supply water to Varna and
Burgas
Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...
. Lake Tsonevo is also a preferred fishing spot for much of Eastern Bulgaria. The Luda Kamchiya gorge, which cuts across Stara Planina provides the easternmost of the three railway routes between northern and southern Bulgaria. The river valley is fertile, lined with orchards and vegetable gardens; much of it is irrigated. The lower Kamchiya is navigable for smaller motor boats.
A
minke whale
The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish na ...
was seen at the river mouth in 1926 and this was one of two records of any baleen whales in the history along with a stranding of the same species north of
Batumi
Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...
in 1882.История на Черно море, ''Чарлз Кинг''
Environment and pollution
A 2006 study conducted by the Institute of Oceanology and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences on the water quality and its impact on the Black Sea coastal zone concluded that
Nutrients content (nitrite, phosphate) in Kamchia River downstream does not always correspond to national water quality standards. The comparison of data from different periods of investigation reveals a slight tendency of decreasing of phosphate and nitrites content and BOD. A decreasing tendency was established as a positive sign of water quality evolution last years
Other environmental issues are that the river is purportedly becoming marshy. The water lily, torfaceous snowdrop, and white Kamchia lily are also disappearing according to the
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
. The Storage Battery Plant in Targovishte is a significant polluter (heavy metals) of the Kamchia River.
Cattle breeding is the second major source of water pollution and directly affects sources of drinking water. Due to a serious lack of water purification stations on cattle farms, non-purified waste waters pour into the various water basins. The same holds true for the underground waters, as nitrates, phosphates, and other macroelements used in farming are dissolved and washed away by rains, to appear subsequently in water basins and mineral springs. The Kamchia reservoir, which is the primary source of drinking water for Bourgas and a secondary source for Varna, is an example. Water and sewage experts have stated that the "Komounari" hydroelectric project should not divert waters from the highly polluted Gorna Kamchia River into the Kamchia reservoir. This reservoir, as well as other sources of drinking water for Varna, have old and low-capacity purification stations. During droughts, drinking water is drawn from the reservoir that does not meet sanitary standards.
The third main pollutant is waste water from everyday household activities in cities and small towns. One of the major problems at the Kamchia reservoir is the lack of purified water provided to the town of Kotel. The city of Varna discharges too much impure water.
However, on a more positive note, as a result of improvements to the Kamchia river, it no longer floods the dense forest. This was responsible for the spread of Dutch elm disease, which had caused great damage to elms and ash trees.
Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...
in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...