Explore Bulgaria is the new project of the National Geographic Channel /NGC/ that will present unique natural and historical landmarks in this country, as seen by four Bulgarian explorers. Two of the participants in this expedition will be selected via online voting on the show’s website. Those will take part in the shooting of six episodes along with Maya Stoilova, windsurf and snowboard instructor and Georgi Palazov, the best Bulgarian butterfly swimmer. Each of the episodes will show the exciting experiences of the four adventurers. The series that unites documentary footage with a reality format will be broadcast in the prime time on NGC Bulgaria. The deadline for applications expires in a few days and the number of applicants is constantly growing – extreme sports fans, keen mountaineers, adventurers, but also young people, who have turned the love for nature into their occupation.

Kalina Polyakova, a recent graduate of the Forestry University in Sofia and now a landscape architect says that to become a part of the NGC team has always been her dream. She has been touring around our mountains ever since her childhood years and her love for Bulgaria’s flora and fauna has made her opt for an occupation, related to their protection and preservation. During her numerous student field exercises she touched some of the most beautiful natural and historical landmarks in this country. The Yaylata national archeological reserve, cape Kaliakra and the Atanasovsko Lake were among those:

“We toured along a large part of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coastline,” Kalina says. “I saw it in the spring, when everything was blossoming. It looked quite different from what we are used to in the summer. This is the good thing about Bulgaria – we have four seasons and nature looks differently beautiful across each of them.”

Kalina gradually started to notice things she hadn’t paid too much attention to before. She likes to spend each free minute in the mountain and in the evenings she goes to folk dance classes. The Canyon of Waterfalls and the Yagodina Cave in the Rhodope Mountain, Kamen Bryag on the Black Sea coast, the Iskar Gorge – those her favorite spots in Bulgaria.

How does the project attract her?

“I am attracted by the adventures during the shooting and the beauty that we will show to the people. I’d like everyone to see our beautiful nature. I have always dreamt of being a part of something like that. When I watch National Geographic’s shows I always want to be at the places they shoot. That is why I want to become a part of the team, in order to help the others to feel it all. Bulgaria is a country with unique beauty and should be seen by more people and above all by the Bulgarians themselves. Yes, many of us do not know what we have. That is why those cannot understand our protests against the concreting of our splendid nature,” Kalina Polyakova says in conclusion.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev