Reforestation action

Last Saturday we went to a village near Svoge to plant some trees. Actually we did not plant them there, but in a forest next to the village. The place is bald because of hard storms and the local rangers want to reforest this area. This is important to keep the hillside safe after rain and to bind C02 from the air.

There were about 30 people from all over Bulgaria. It was a quite international community and many people could speak decent English or Spanish and German. Sadly, from the local village there were only few people.

We met in front of a school and there was also our transport vehicle waiting for us. It was an old off-road vehicle of Soviet design. The 30 people took place on the open load area, and we began to drive in the forest. We drove about 30 minutes to the planting-spot and this ride was really fun. It was a mixture of roller-coaster and a bus-trip.

After arriving, Filip gave us an introduction in proper planting trees and how to handle the tools. We formed groups of three in which everyone had a task in the process. We planted oaks and pines. The planting-area was very steep and moving there was quite exhausting.

That’s why we enjoyed the break very much. We set up a fire and had potatoes, chickpeas and tee for lunch. The community was very open and I had some nice conversations with interesting people.

After about 4 hours of planting everyone was happily exhausted with a good feeling of having done something for the environment.

Peter