NEW TOURIST ROUTES AND GUIDE SIGNS IN BULGARIA’S RILA NATIONAL PARK

Bulgaria’s “Rila” national park will be equipped with new guide signs on the tourist rouites. The purpose is to make tourist feel safer while enjoying the biological diversity and nature in the protected area.

Building new routes and viewing points, repair of forest roads, bridges and facilities in the park are some of the activities foreseen in the project for sustainable management of the protected area.

The director of “Rila” National Park, Krasimir Andonov, explains that the summer tourist path “Ledeno ezero” (Ice Lake) has been fully restored, missing steps have been repaired and replaced and the whole steel railing has been fixed.

The repairs will be focused at the area with the seven Rila lakes as it is frequently visited by tourists and therefore nature is rather damaged there.

Nikolai Stoyanov, ecologist, says that special wooden steps were placed in order to prevent harm to nature.

Fire prevention and safety in the park is among the priorities of the management of the project. As a preventative measure, around 70 kilometres of afforestation and barriers have been built to ensure reduction of wildfire risk and prevention from spreading in the event it occurs, he added.

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Rila" National Park is the largest national park in Bulgaria, covering an area of 810.46 km² in the Rila mountains. The average height of the peaks is about 2 700 meters, and includes the highest peak in Bulgaria, Mount Musala (2925m).

The Park contains rare and endangered wildlife species, self-regulating ecosystems of biological diversity and many historic sites of global cultural and scientific significance.

It was was established on 24th of February, 1992 to conserve the natural heritage of the Rila Mountains and the local traditions and culture linked with the area.

Rila National Park is one of the most valuable protected areas in Europe—listed as Category 2 by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The Park and some of its nature reserves are on the UN List of Representative Protected Areas.