Alepu

Worth a detour

Alepu is a long, thin brackish lagoon seven kilometres south of Sozopol, cut off from the sea by a sand bar that the old road runs along — which is why everybody calls the beach the drivers' beach. It is protected for its waterbirds and for one plant: this is the only place on the Bulgarian Black Sea where water chestnut grows. The dunes behind it are separately protected.

Story

Background

The marsh was declared a natural landmark in 1986 and recategorised as a protected site in 2018, covering about a hundred and seventy-seven hectares. Its declared purpose is the habitat of protected and rare waterbirds, and specifically that single locality of Trapa natans. Hunting, fishing, construction, burning the reeds, polluting the water and collecting the water chestnut fruit are all prohibited; grazing is allowed outside the breeding season from April to July. Twelve hectares of dune on the seaward side carry their own protection, declared in 1984.

The setting is unusual. Bakarlaka and Kukuv Bair rise to the north, Andrea Bair to the south, and the lagoon lies between them with the sea beyond, closed by capes at both ends. From the road the whole system is legible at a glance, which is rare for a Bulgarian wetland.

It has also been one of the sharpest development fights on this coast. A large residential project on the beach ran into an environmental assessment, and the Institute of Oceanology stated publicly that Alepu beach lies in a zone of very high ecological sensitivity. What has happened since is not clearly documented. Go and look: the sand bar is open, the lagoon is on the other side of the road, and it will be obvious enough what is at stake. There is no visitor infrastructure of any kind, so bring water and park in a lay-by rather than on the sand.