Since buying a summer apartment in Sozopol in 2005, I have passed by countless times but always been en route elsewhere and in too much of a hurry to stop. Now that we are working on the first edition of In Your Pocket – Burgas mini guide, I was, at last, forced to take the little slip road to the right – signposted “Poda Nature Reserve” to see where it will lead me to. Sitting on the verge of the (fresh water) Burgas lakes and the( salt water) Black Sea, the reserve is the first wetland territory managed by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds with as many as 265 different species of birds having been spotted here (so the sign informs us)
A dirt track leads across an old steel bridge to a welcoming visitors centre ( albeit some renovation work was ongoing for which they apologise). The little parking space there is, was taken up by a mini bus, so I carefully parked as close to the entrance as possible without causing too much disturbance, as the roof terrace was full of people with binoculars and telescopes; a specially organised trip for ornithologists from Switzerland was clearly enjoying the glorious weather and variety of birdlife on offer. It seems from the visitor book that they get a lot of foreign visitors.
My daughter and I – complete novices regarding birds – were welcomed to the centre by Jana who gave us a brief introduction and after paying a visitors fee of 4 leva for adults and 2 leva for children, took us up on the roof terrace, gave us some binoculars, set up a telescope for us and showed us some birds as a brief introduction. It was quite remarkable to be able to watch them up close and undisturbed. We watched the only colony of great cormorants which breeds on disused power pylons, herons, swans, little egrets, terns and gulls. The centre is full of useful information including charts with all the birds (and other wildlife) that you might see and their names in 6 different languages, which was particularly helpful to us.
From the visitor centre you can follow a trail to several other viewing locations. We didn’t really have time to follow the trail this time, but I am so glad that I finally took the time to discover the beautiful tranquil environment of the Poda reserve, that I am already looking forward to returning several times over the summer in the hope of seeing and watching the beautiful colony of ‘Dalmatian Pelicans’ that I only once in all these years caught a glimpse of when speeding from Burgas to Sozopol. 
If you are in the region be sure not to rush by (approach from Sozopol to Burgas road) even half an hour spent there is well worth it.
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