Bulgaria: Realm of the Brown Bear

The trip was absolutely wonderful. Julian Perry is so enthusiastic and so so knowledgeable about the wildlife and flowers of the Rodopi mountains it is impossible not to have a great great holiday. The hotel is comfy and the food is delicious and Mari and her team can’t do enough to make sure you enjoy your stay.

Enjoyed all aspects of holiday, accommodation and hotel staff, excellent and friendly guide, welcoming local people, beautiful countryside, interesting facts on Bear , Wolf and other wildlife presence.

This was a wonderful walking holiday with the added bonus of following the "theme" of the bears which live in the Rodopi mountain area. The walks were Moderate, but Julian led at a relaxing pace to ensure that we could explore the beauty of the flower meadows, butterflies and other wildlife. The hotel in the village of Yagodina was brilliant, with substantial and varied local cuisine, rooms to a good quality, and freindly staff. Despite four evening vists to the bear hide (we were only a small group) we didn't actually see any bears, but finding signs of them during the walks, such as footprints, marking treees, etc made us really feal that they were probably "behind you" all the time! Overall, a peaceful, relaxing and rewarding walking holiday.

Very enjoyable trip, excellent guide and guiding, great exploration of local flora, fauna and foods.

This trip was even more that the brochure suggests. Every day was an experience and adventure, every mountain trail an education and sometimes a challenge. A really great opportunity to experience nature at its best!

If you enjoy walking in pristine mountains , are interested in bears in particular , wildlife in general and eating local food then this is the trip for you

We enjoyed our week with Julian down in the Rodolpi Mountains, trekking the hills and meadows, on the lookout for the wildlife of the region. We loved it all. The landscape (sort of alpine-esque) is gentle in places and vigorous in others. Every day the walks took us to new areas and vistas. People have impressions of what Bulgaria is going to look and feel like and this week resets those expectations completely. We summoned up the energy to head to the hide a couple of times and loved it there - a real "in the moment" way to spend three hours. The hotel was welcoming and comfortable with ample delicious local specialties to fuel our efforts. Travelling in September we were surprised by how many flowers were still out, the butterflies and insects, the huge range of funghi, not to mention the very varied bird and mammal life of all sizes. There was the familiar, and the new, at every corner.

From sitting in a hide observing a glittering night time scene , to searching for Chamois from a hillside viewpoint , this trip encapsulates the world of the Brown Bear explained by the expert Julian Perry . He leads the group across an outstandingly scenic mountain terrain and presents the techniques to track and record the presence of Brown Bears in a non-intrusive way . We were very adequately accommodated in a centre-based family run hotel from where we walked or were driven to local forestry trails and areas used by Bears. With a tremendous knowledge of the ecology of the region , the leader identified and enabled us to observe and photograph flora and fauna including many wildflowers , birds , reptiles , mammals , amphibians and insects.

Our base in a small, traditional village in the mountains was perfect for walks into the surrounding area. The biodiversity of the Rodopi mountains is amazing and our exceptionally knowledgeable leader helped us identify mammal scats and tracks, birds, reptiles, insects and plants, many of which were new to me. The walks were at a gentle pace, allowing plenty of time for photography.

This was a truly wonderful trip that combines hiking, wildlife and scientific research, in a unique blend of 'eco-research-tourism'. Exodus - please offer more tours like this!

An excellent trip in a lovely part of the world. Seeing an adult female bear at the bear hide was amazing. Pity she was scared off by a group of wild boar but they were great to see too. The walks were great and weren’t too challenging although be prepared for a lot of uphills!

Had a great time on the Bulgarian Brown Bear trip! Trip leader, Julian, was very enthusiastic and well-informed on the region and subject matter. Bulgaria is a beautiful country and the local people were wonderful. The owner of Hotel Yagodina, Maria, runs a great hotel and her and her staff serve fantastic food. Julian took us on some wonderful hikes and provided great information about bear behavior, habitat, biology, etc. Visiting the bear hide in the evening provided a fun opportunity to view the bears and other wild life. Julian made sure we had multiple opportunities to visit the bear hide in order to ensure we had an opportunity to see a bear. The hikes themselves were challenging, but not so difficult that we had any real problems completing them. Julian was willing to point out other wild life during our hikes, and was very engaging with people in the group. Julian is passionate about bears and excited to share the subject with others. He made sure we were taken care of and educated about the wonders of bears!

Wildlife, conservation, expert patient guide, mountain hiking, remote rural village community, and an intimate family run hotel were all the components that blended perfectly together to form this holiday into my ultimate relaxing get away with a dusting of excitement, anticipation, and adventure on top!

This was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, combining walking in the mountains with the opportunity to see and learn about bears in the company of a true expert and bear enthusiast and a great group of fellow travellers. I really can’t fault this trip, the scenery is stunning, the wildlife is all around you, and the food, accommodation and hospitality of the local people are a delight.

This really is the best walking and wildlife combination I've ever been on. Loved that we did good mountain walks in the day time through varied and stunning scenery whilst focusing on wildlife along the way. Visiting the bear hide in the evenings was really fantastic, loved seeing so many bears in their natural habitat, so exciting! Julian was such a brilliant guide, so professional, knowledgeable, capable and fun, thanks Julian!

This was the best trip I've been on in years. It's so rare to have a trip which includes both walking and wildlife, but Julian created the perfect combination of the two with this trip. The scenery was spectacular, and it was just the right level of challenging for a townie who doesn't normally do that much walking! The locals in Yagodina are absolutely lovely, and the hotel staff couldn't do enough for us. The food was nearly all homemade and was so delicious. We certainly didn't go hungry! We were also so lucky to see as many bears and other wildlife as we did, and to have such a lovely group and guide who got on as well as we all did. We didn't stop laughing all week! I highly recommend this trip to anyone who likes walking, wildlife, stunning mountain and meadow views, delicious food and lovely people (what's not to like??)

This is a thoroughly enjoyable holiday if you enjoy the outdoors, walking, sampling local cuisine and of course tracking and even seeing bears! Our week could hardly have been better, from the very comfortable and friendly hotel, which served local dishes for every meal, to our expert guide and to the stunning scenery and wildlife which surrounds the lovely village of Yagodina. It was great to be able to walk from our hotel and experience such diversity of habitats, including lush open meadows filled with wild flowers, a mind boggling diversity of butterflies and even Corncrakes, beech woodland, rocky escarpments offering fantastic views of the countryside as well as raptors such as Hobbys and Peregrine Falcons and of course pine forests where the evidence of bear activity is all around you. Seeing bears during the day is extremely difficult but we had great success up at the hide where we saw big, solitary males and mothers with their young cubs. We even saw a sounder of Wild Boar complete with a young family of beautifully marked piglets. However the highlight was undoubtedly when we were fortunate enough to spot a mother bear with 2 of this year's cubs in an open area below us. They were entirely oblivious to our presence and we could watch them behaving entirely naturally. Something I will never forget.

A brilliant trip in all respects! Scenery, group leader, wildlife, hotel, food all get top marks Great walking and was lucky to be with a lovely group of just 6 of us plus Julian our leader

This was my first walking holiday and must admit it was a title too much for me. But to put that into context I had a pacemaker fitted 5 weeks prior to the trip and didn't want to cancel. The holiday was mostly walking up and down mountains looking for signs of bears - including trees, paw prints, log movements, and the obvious thing all bears do in the woods! So if you like walking and hiking then you will enjoy this part of the holiday. The hotel was fabulous, food was lovely, staff were excellent, rooms great, and overall much better than expected. The expert guide Matthew was great, helpful, funny, knowledgable and looked a little like a cuddly bear (don't tell him that) The hide you get to go on an evening to have the chance to see the Bears feeding is perfect. We were very lucky seeing bears on both evenings I went. The other half of the group saw bears also and this can't be guaranteed but was great. One thing to note is the journey to the hide was fun but very bumpy and so not great for anyone who is injured or getting over surgery. Organisation of the trip was perfect, everything ran to plan and very well put together and organised. So overall really good holiday, but be warned you will need to enjoy walking lots!

I am so glad that a friend suggested this holiday to me, as it surpassed all of my expectations. The Hotel Yagodina is a splendid base: the staff are very friendly and the food from local sources is served in generous portions. Some of the local specialities cooked for breakfast were eagerly taken in lunch boxes to supplement the sandwiches and salad (which we made up ourselves from a table of ingredients, including fresh fruit and chocolate bars!). Maria's cheesecake and apple strudel were memorable. All of the walks were enjoyable in themselves, for the beautiful scenery, the diversity of flowers and butterflies, however having Julian as our leader took this holiday to a higher level. Every day he showed us evidence of the bears living in the area and told us interesting facts about brown bears; he is also very knowledgeable about birds, butterflies, moths, reptiles and amphibians, as well as the plants unique to the Rodopi Mountains. One of the best holidays I have had.