Slavyanka ( bg, Славянка, " Slavic woman") or Orvilos ( el, Όρβηλος),In Greece this name is also used for the

Pirin , photo=Pirin-mountains-Bansko.jpg , photo_caption=Pirin scenery in winter , country= Bulgaria, , parent= , geology= granite, gneiss, marble, limestone , area_km2=2585 , range_coordinates = , length_km=80 , length_orientation= north-s ...

mountain range. formerly known as Alibotush (from Turkish ''Alibotuş'') and Kitka Planina (Китка планина), is a mountain located on the border of southwestern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and northernmost

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, located south of the

Pirin Mountains , photo=Pirin-mountains-Bansko.jpg , photo_caption=Pirin scenery in winter , country= Bulgaria, , parent= , geology= granite, gneiss, marble, limestone , area_km2=2585 , range_coordinates = , length_km=80 , length_orientation= north-s ...

and connected with it by the Paril Saddle. The highest peak of Slavyanka is Gotsev Vrah at 2,212 m, while other notable peaks include Golyam Tsarev Vrah (2,186 m), Malak Tsarev Vrah (2,087 m), Shabran (2,196 m) and Salyuva Dzhamiya (2,027 m). The Bulgarian section of the mountain is part of the

Ali Botush Reserve Ali Botush ( bg, Али ботуш), also spelled Alibotoush, is a nature reserve in the small mountain range of Slavyanka (mountain), Slavyanka, located on the border between Bulgaria and Greece. The reserve occupies the northern section of the m ...

. The

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

is dome-shaped and has very steep ridges. Slavyanka has a pronounced

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

character and thus features over 30 caves, attracting many

speleologist Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form ( speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorphology) ...

s. The climate has a considerable

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

influence, with precipitation being at its highest in the autumn and winter and at its lowest in the summer, and the average temperatures being higher than in the rest of the country at this height. The average annual temperature in the lowest part of the mountain is almost 14

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

and about 6 °C in the highest part. Slavyanka has a rich

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

, with more than 1,700

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

s, including 20 Bulgarian

endemic species Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

and five that can be found nowhere else in the country. The low part of the mountain is rich in

European Black Pine ''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as wel ...

, while the

Bosnian Pine ''Pinus heldreichii'' (synonym ''P. leucodermis''; family Pinaceae), the Bosnian pine or Heldreich’s pine, is a species of pine native to mountainous areas of the Balkans and southern Italy. Description It is an evergreen tree up to in height ...

grows at over 1,800 m above sea level, making Slavyanka the place with the highest concentration of the species in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. The

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

is represented not only by typical species for Bulgaria such as the

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

Wild Boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...

, but also by characteristically

animals like the

jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

, the rare European Cat Snake, several species of tortoises and lizards, etc. There have been found 44 species of terrestrial gastropods in the Bulgarian part of the Alibotush Mountains.Dedov I. K. (2008). "Terrestrial gastropods (Mollusca, Gastropoda) of the Bulgarian part of the Alibotush Mts." ''

Malacologica Bohemoslovaca ''Malacologica Bohemoslovaca'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering all aspects of malacology. It was published by the Slovak Academy of Sciences since 2005. It is published by the Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of ...

'' 7: 17-20
PDF
Twenty-four species of these terrestrial gastropods have Mediterranean type of distribution.

References

External links

{{commons category, Alibotush
Greek Mountain Flora

Orvilos - Menoikio - Vrontou (Lailias) terrain map
by Geopsis Rhodope mountain range Two-thousanders of Bulgaria Two-thousanders of Greece Landforms of Blagoevgrad Province Biosphere reserves of Bulgaria Bulgaria–Greece border International mountains of Europe