site.btaPaleo Park in NW Bulgaria Takes Visitors 2.5 Mln Years Back in Time

A Paleo Park in Varshets (Northwestern Bulgaria) - the first of its kind in the Balkans, offers a free walk among life-size models of animals that lived 2.5 million years ago. Inaugurated just three weeks ago, the park has already attracted thousands of Bulgarian and foreign tourists. 

The Paleo Park was set up under a joint project of Varshets Municipality and the Oltenia Museum in Craiova on funding from the Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria Cross-border Cooperation Programme. Located in Varshets’s Borov Park, the attraction occupies an area of 1 ha, including the alleys with animal models and an information centre. 

Saber-toothed cats, rhinos, hyenas, cheetahs, and large birds of prey take pride of place among the models on display in the Park. The selection of species to be represented in the attraction is based on paleontological and ornithological research carried out in the area of Varshets. Excavations near the village of Dolno Ozirovo in the 1990s uncovered fossils of over 100 animal species who roamed these parts during the Pliocene.

The Paleo Park’s Information Centre exhibits the paleontological finds from the area of Varshets. Visitors can watch videos and animations showing the excavation site and see casts of animal skulls and parts of skeletons found there. Also on display is a 12 sq m diorama representing the flora and fauna in this part of Europe 2.5 million years ago.

The Paleo Park is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily from Wednesday to Sunday.