St. Kliment Ohridski is the Bulgarian Antarctic Base situated on Livingston Island.  It is operated by the University of Sofia for the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.

Bulgaria first sent a team of scientists to the Antarctic during the 1987-88 season for joint projects with the British and Soviet Programs. At that time they established a refuge on Livingston Island on the northest side of South Bay. During 1993-94 this refuge was reconstructed and developed into the Base as shown above.  In March 1995 Bulgaria signed the Antarctic Treaty and since then has continued to develop its Antarctic research programmes largely in association with the Spanish who provide logistic support with the Spanish Antarctic supply vessels "Hesperides" and "Las Palmas".

Note: The above cover from the 7th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition has the base cachet at bottom left. It has been signed by the Base Commander Dr. Christo Pimpirev who is shown at left.

The Bulgarian stamps are postmarked January 1st 1999 with the special Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition postmark which is applied only to Antarctic Mail when the expedition returns to Sofia.

Note: this cover is signed by Dr Christo Pimpirev, the Bulgarian Expedition leader. It bears the large "St.Kliment Ohridski" base cachet and is postmarked on arrival back in Sofia with the special Antarctic mails postmark. The two above covers were carried on board the Spanish Antarctic research vessel "Las Palmas".

Note: this cover is also signed by Dr Christo Pimpirev, the Bulgarian Expedition leader. The Bulgarian stamps on the envelope feature the base itself plus penguins with the label at top left showing the spanish Antarctic support vessel "Hesperides"  which often transports the Bulgarian party. This year however it was the Spanish "Las Palmas" which transported the Bulgarian expedition to the base. Backstamped on arrival in Christchurch on 7th April, 2003.

Note: this covers differs from the previous one in that it has been postmarked at a later date and bears a different label. It has however also been backstamped in Christchurch on 7th April, 2003 indicating that only one mail was despatched from the base even if different cancellation dates were used.

Note: Bulgaria opened a second base on Livingston Island in 2004 called Tangra - Academia Camp which can be seen here