There are many nooks and corners yet to be explored in Bulgaria, many dreams that can still be made to come true, say the four explorers from National Geographic, Bulgaria, faces well known to viewers from the past two seasons of Explore Bulgaria. Their mission is to discover and show TV viewers offbeat and obscure locations in the country, to describe their own experience and remind people how little we all know Bulgaria.

“This adventure is now in its third year, its aim is to show wonderful places in Bulgaria in an intriguing and easygoing way. We ourselves feel as if we are among the chosen few, because we get to go and see these locations and have a wonderful time to boot,” said Georgi Bogdanov, one of the authors of Explore Bulgaria before presenting one of the season three episodes.

More than two years ago two of the National Geographic Channel viewers were given the opportunity of becoming explorers in the first season and to describe their experience on camera. They are: learn-as-you-go environmentalist Vasil Popov who knows a great deal but wants to find out more and archaeozoologist Nadezhda Karastoyanova for whom there is no rock too high and no cave too deep.

The two were selected by a jury from among more than 1,000 applicants. Together with National Geographic Channel, Bulgaria's Maya Stoilova, snowboard and windsurf instructor and Georgi Palazov, Olympic athlete and swimming instructor, they set out on their first TV expedition in the spring of 2014.

So far the adventure seekers have presented 12 different locations across Bulgaria. The six second season episodes of Explore Bulgaria took viewers to Mount Strandja in southeastern Bulgaria, Rousse Lom with its famed rock monasteries, Zhrebchevo dam and its spooky sunken church, Ropotamo park and its ancient sanctuary, bizarre rock formations and its wealth of wildlife. They built an igloo in the foothills of Sinanitsa peak in Mount Pirin and cleared away the rocks dangerously overhanging the Madara horseman. The third season now running on National Geographic Channel again takes us to the Rhodopes. The explorers travel by camper - their base camp which they return to every night after reaching their destinations by bicycle. The camper is also their mobile lab where they analyse the data collected.

“Each one of the three seasons was a different kind of experience,” says professional swimmer Georgi Palazov. “We now work really well as a team, things worked out very well very quickly. We spent two weeks shooting in the Rhodopes. To begin with we didn't know what to expect, during season two we had adopted a certain approach with the experience we had amassed, but when the locations and situations are different, experience isn't much help. Now the machine seems to be well-oiled - we had no expectations and things turned out in the best possible way.”

And that is only logical - after all each one of the episodes is a dream come true, a page written and read in the journal of the expedition. Maya, Georgi, Vasil and Nadezhda have kept the spirit of adventure alive in their hearts, knowing there are so many more things to be explored. Adventures for the TV viewers as well as they discover the mysteries of Bulgaria.

English version: Milena Daynova