Active efforts to build bicycle and pedestrian routes around the lakes in Burgas

For more than a year, the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (BBF) has been making active efforts to create new routes around the lakes in Burgas - mainly bicycle, but also pedestrian and for cars. The goal is to connect people with the surrounding natural environment and to provide access to points that will not create conflict or threaten the inhabitants.

The BBF team holds meetings, conducts tours, and seeks like-minded people - people who love to wander around the lakes and discover new interesting places. The organization gathers a lot of information and is constantly in contact with the Municipality of Burgas, as that is where the information and opportunities for the development of new bicycle lanes, the emergence of new places, and the use of the lakes, different from a landfill (as is the case in many places at the moment), are located. Radostina Tsenova from BBF shares that Mayor Nikolov has even appointed a Bicycle Working Group, which, together with the citizens, will discuss the urban and suburban bicycle issues and will meet this week.

The BBF team has discovered several interesting opportunities for bicycle and pedestrian routes around Lake Mandra, which will soon be mapped on a special platform so that they can be used by every enthusiast, providing them with up-to-date information on their condition and level of difficulty. Thanks to the enthusiasm and active involvement of Svetoslav Mitev and Petar Dishkov from Burgas, a very interesting and slightly challenging route around Mandra was tested.

On June 8, the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation and the Burgas Bicycle Community decided to mark World Environment Day (June 5) with a special event dedicated to Lake Mandra. They organized a bicycle tour along the protected area of Poda, Uzungeren, and the southern shores of Mandra. Although a total of 30 km, the route is suitable for all ages and levels of preparation and offers picturesque views and encounters with the local flora and fauna.

During the bicycle tour, the participants rescued a family of swans and their young, helping them cross a section with tall grass. The group passed along the new bicycle lane in Kraymorie, joined the road to the village of Marinka, then continued along an old asphalt road and a dirt road along the Uzungeren area and above the entire Lake Mandra. At the end of the bridge, an enthusiastic group joined to clean the shore of the lake, collecting three large bags, a tire, and part of a car, but also discovering a place with construction waste.

The path along the bridge over the Mandra dam is extremely picturesque and offers magnificent views of the two parts of the lake. During the bicycle tour, a white stork feeding, cormorants, a small snake, two hares, more swans, and hundreds of dragonflies were observed. Just after the bridge, the bicycle lane in the Meden Rudnik residential complex begins, but in places it gets lost and is slightly circumvented before the group returns to the city center.

This year's World Environment Day was dedicated to the fight against plastic pollution - a global problem that even affects our bodies in the form of microplastics. Therefore, BBF organized the collection of plastic waste along the shores of Mandra, providing bags and gloves, and the Municipality of Burgas will remove them afterwards to make the bicycle route pleasant to use.

The "Burgas on Three Lakes and One Sea" initiative, which BBF is implementing as part of the European EmpowerUs project, aims to protect and promote the city's wetlands and provide access to them. It is part of the broader initiative of the BURGAS BICYCLE COMMUNITY to improve and develop the urban and regional bicycle network.