National Geographic Channel (NGC) Bulgaria, in partnership with UBB, launches, for a third consecutive year, the Explore Bulgaria project - a blend of a TV broadcast and the Nat Geo online platforms, created especially for the Bulgarian audience. TV series’ shooting has already started with the pilot episode to be aired on the celebration day for all Bulgarians - 24 May 2016, 9.30 p.m.   

In fact, Season 3 has been again shot exclusively in Bulgaria. The new series take the Rhodope Mountains as the expedition’s primary venue and lay the focus predominantly on the explorers’ stories by exhibiting their collected materials and also by retrospective interviews with these four characters, to be filmed after the end of the journey.

“We are definitely proud of the fact thatfor a third time we are going to accomplish a high quality project with a thoroughly local content, addressed to Bulgarian audience”, said Mr. Krassimir Nikolov, Senior Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe of FOX Networks Group. “Explore Bulgaria is once again a call to rediscover together our picturesque country and a stage for promoting Bulgarian talents on the National Geographic Channel“, he added.

“We are happy to stand behind such a unique project for a third consecutive year. We support Explore Bulgaria not only because via the project we create an opportunity for everyone to explore closer and appreciate Bulgarian nature and sights, but also because we embrace sustainable initiatives and creativity, which are exactly the features, combined into this project” Mr. Alexander Georgiev, General Manager Retail Banking Division commented, as he wished explorers and the audience to experience a journey, even more thrilling and memorable.

In the project’s third season the familiar faces from Explore Bulgaria - the adventurer Maria Stoilova, the participant in the Athens and Sydney Olympics Georgi Palazov, the archaeologist Nadezhda Karastoyanova and the biologist Vasil Popov will embark on an adventure throughout South-West Bulgaria to discover new unexplored places and stories. In the coming season of the series the four’s passage will turn into an expedition in search of unmapped sites throughout Bulgaria. Among the locations they are going to visit are Vlahi village, Asenovgrad town, the Belintash plateau in the Rhodope Mountains, Trigrad town, the Harman Kaya sanctuary and the picturesque small town of Madzharovo. “Explore Bulgaria has managed to prove itself as a benchmark for Bulgarian reality shows. We are glad that in the third season we are going to improve further and build on the established brand through new and exciting road movie elements, more personal experiences and an expedition of true researchers”, said Martichka Bozhilova from AGITPROP Production Company.

The four explorers will be travelling by a camper. It will serve as a base camp when they set off on bikes along narrow meandering paths or when they descend into caves. The camper will also be a mobile laboratory where the explorers will be analyzing the gathered data. The informal leader of the group will once again be Georgi Palazov, together with Maya and Nadezhda as partners in the mission and Vasil as the laboratory man, constantly engaged in overcoming new challenges.  

The 2016 project has been supported by United Bulgarian Bank in its exclusive partner capacity, while upholding Explore Bulgaria for a third consecutive year.