To All The Bears We Did Not See...

by Tess Branchflower (Australia)

A leap into the unknown Bulgaria

Thunder rumbles a warning over Rila National Park, Bulgaria. I remind myself to look up from my cautious steps and instead focus on the lush green forest surrounding me and the backs of my new companions. The four of us fast friends after sharing the experience of being lost in the Bulgarian wilderness, translating Cyrillic script and being threatened by looming storms and the warning of brown bears. Having met four hours earlier at the hostel breakfast buffet, I accepted the invite to join two young travellers to pick up a rental car and drive to Rila National Park for the aptly named, Seven Rila Lakes hike. A trek I was desperate to tackle but was finding the logistics of getting there somewhat difficult. Not wanting to trek solo with my history of getting lost on hikes, I told my Kiwi pal (of two days) that our plan for the day was sorted and off we went on our adventure. After being shown to our rental car by a man on a scooter… no not a motorised scooter, a two-wheeler… we discovered the ski lift necessary to access the start of the hike was closed for another month. Alas, we weren’t able to do the Seven Rila Lakes hike, but we could do part of another hike. After all, we’d come this far. Scared that the bears will track us down, we left our food purchased for a picnic in the car securely wrapped up in case Yogi really wanted our bread and bananas. Fast forward three hours of intermediate hiking, we put our waterproof jackets to the test getting soaked by a flash downpour and were unanimous in calling quits on our amble through the Bulgarian forest. I was half expecting a family of bears to be tearing into our car of treats and was almost disappointed when they weren’t. This not-so-adventurous-adventure still a prominent day with or without being chased down by a brown bear. Although that would have made this story incredibly gripping, had I lived to tell the tale, life doesn't always throw you the expected. Relish in your kismet. I made peace with the fact I would have never been able to do the Seven Rila Lakes hike because it wasn’t the right season in the first place, but what I did get was a hilarious day trip that could very well not have even happened. Had I gone down to breakfast twenty minutes later we would have never met. I could have sat at another table, could have said “no thank you” to the offer. This extraordinary day was balanced on fate. Travelling alone, you are not concerned with whether the people you meet are going to be your best friend for life or even for a week. You may spend one day with someone, have a really great time and then part ways. And that’s okay. When I am in my home environment I am all to consumed with work and plans I have made that I don’t ‘plan’ to be spontaneous. I do not leave room for the unexpected to occur. Sometimes we need to take a holiday in our own backyard and throw anxiety, scepticism and google calendars to the wind and just say “sure, that sounds like fun.”