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A walk in the mystical beech forests of Kozia Stena Reserve, Central Balkan National Park

05 September 2022
The penultimate for 2022 organized walking tour in the beech forests of the Central Balkan – part of a serial site on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List, took place on September 3rd.
Of the series of walks dedicated to the distinguished beech forests of the National Park, this was the most mystical. On Saturday, the Balkan welcomed curious guests from all over the country with foggy weather. This limited some of the beautiful views from the main Balkan ridge, but gave a special charm to the forest and gave rise to many discussions on various topics related to the biodiversity of the region and modern approaches in the management of protected areas. The route, although long and with a steep descent at the end, did not make it difficult for the group.
Through the stories of the representatives of the Park Directorate, the enthusiasts had the opportunity to learn more about the forests with the most prestigious international distinction, about the characteristics of the Central Balkan National Park, about the interesting tourist places in the Troyan Balkan region, about historical events that happened in these places.
There is one more final visit to the beech forests of the Central Balkan – on September 10th, 2022. The walks among the distinguished beech forests aim to enable a wider range of people to touch places of the Bulgarian nature, which have received international recognition.
Since 2017 the best preserved and most representative natural beech forests of the nine reserves of the Central Balkan National Park are part of the serial transnational site of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Ancient and Primeval Beech Forest of the Carpathians and other regions in Europe. With an area of nearly 11 thousand hectares, the Bulgarian component is the largest area among a total of 94 components, distributed in 18 European countries.
The visits to the forests of the Central Balkan are realized in the implementation of activity “3.02. Local and national awareness raising“ under the LIFE PROGNOSES Project LIFE20 PRE / BE / 00011 – LIFE PRotection of Old Growth Forests in Europe: Natural heritage, Outline, Synthesis and Ecosystem Services (Strengthening primary and old growth forest protection in Europe by capitalizing on World Heritage sites).