Two Women in the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition: Achievements in Extreme Conditions

An interesting detail from the ongoing 34th National Antarctic Expedition is the inclusion of two women in its composition, who have proven themselves in extremely extreme conditions, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute (BAI) announced.

One is the first Bulgarian woman to wave our national flag at the South Pole in 2020, Toni Tilyashka, as a participant in the traverse to refuel the American base “Amundsen-Scott”, located at the pole itself, which started from the coastal base “McMurdo”. In the following years, Tilyashka participated in the next three traverses.

Bulgarian Klementina Straka will also participate as captain of the “Zodiac” boats. She was the skipper of the yacht “Tiamat”, sailing with an all-female crew on the prestigious and very difficult Aegean 600 regatta, which finished successfully, far ahead of many male crews, the BAI informs. 

The Bulgarian ship “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” is sailing to the Ice Continent as part of the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic expedition. There it will deliver equipment and supplies, and will support the research projects of Bulgarian and foreign scientists. The vessel arrived at the military base of the Argentinian city of Mar del Plata on December 13, 2025, after a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. 

As BTA wrote, the research vessel “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” (NIC 421) sailed from the Sea Station in Varna on November 7, 2025. The ship is expected to return to Varna in mid-April 2026.

BTA recalls that the first group of the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic expedition departed for the Ice Continent on November 6 with a flight from Sofia, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute announced at the time.