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Tarpan Days
Come and see the tarpans on 27, 28 and 29 April 2012 near the village of Sbor, Krumovgrad Municipality during the Tarpan days organized by NTG! Tarpans (wild horses) live there since September 2011. They have been reintroduced in the Eastern Rhodopes within the Dutch-Bulgarian project New Thracian Gold (NTG)
Bulgarian and Dutch experts and young eco volunteers will tell and show you about tarpans and their role in nature. They will answer your questions about this reintroduction, about the horses’ daily and seasonal life and about the future expectations of the projectYou can participate in the contest for the best picture of tarpan! Images you take and your experience might be awarded in the photo and travel report contest "Eastern Rhodopes - taste the wild", which in 2012 will be organized for the second time. You can participate on the work to enlarge the enclosure for the horses. Surely, you will get unforgettable impressions of the beautiful Eastern Rhodopes during the four days official holiday (April 28-May 1, 2012).
While travelling in the region you can see also vultures in Madzharovo, deer in the hunting reserve Studen Kladenets, wild orchids flowering near Ivaylovgrad, Karakachan horses near the village of Pelevun, the organic model farm in Topolovo...
For additional information about which sites to visit and where to stay, please have a look at www.newthraciangold.eu. And don’t forget to consult the NTG tourist map and NTG information guide for the Eastern Rhodopes.
Millennia ago the tarpans lived in Europe, including Bulgaria, but the animals unfortunately disappeared. Begin of September 2011,12 tarpans were brought from the Netherlands and reintroduced for the first time in Bulgaria in the area of Krumovgrad, Eastern Rhodopes. In their first year in Bulgaria they are in an enclosed area to become habituated to Eastern Rhodopean nature. In the autumn they are expected to be released.
Their role in Eastern Rhodopi nature will be the same as in ancient times: to graze the wild vegetation, to mold the wilderness and to support a natural ecosystem.
Tarpans have a reputation of being tough and easily adapted to the harsh conditions of semi-open wilderness landscapes. Towards humans tarpans expose their quiet, inquisitive and well-intentioned character. The total number of tarpans in the world at this moment is around 4000, almost half of them are in the Netherlands. Dutch Tarpans have been reintroduced in Latvia, England, France, Belgium and Germany and everywhere they became a tourist attraction.
Bringing Tarpans to the Eastern Rhodopes is part of the wilderness restoration plans of the NTG project. Three herds of the rare Rhodope Shorthorn cattle and a herd of Karakachan horses are already raised in the region in a semi-natural way. Red deer is under reintroduction in the hunting reserve Studen Kladenets. Reintroduction of European bison is planned, as well.
