Kupenite
The third protected rock site in the land of Reselets, by the road to Breste. A separate geotope from Kuklite in Uleya and from Skalnite Kukli in Pladnishteto, spatially linked with Skoka.
Geotope
The University of Mining and Geology describes Kupenite as limestone rock pyramids lined along the steep right bank of the river the university calls Belilo, about 0.8 kilometres northwest of Reselets along the road to Breste. The pyramids rise 30 to 40 metres above the riverbed and formed during the last tens of thousands of years through rainwater working on the karstifiable limestone; the bare slopes favour their development.
The limestone
The pyramids are shaped in Maastrichtian limestone with chert nodules, the same Late Cretaceous layers that build the other limestone places around Reselets. The university compares them with the Chudnite Skali of the eastern Fore-Balkan and ranks them among the most beautiful limestone rock compositions in the country.
Status
The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water in Pleven lists Kupenite among the protected natural monuments in the land of Reselets, declared by Order No. 3702 of 29 December 1972, published in State Gazette issue 13/1973, together with Skalnite Kukli in the Pladnishteto locality and Kuklite in the Uleya locality. In the protected-area register the site has code 158 and a registered area of 4.3 hectares. The three are separate sites.
Neighbours
The university places Skoka waterfall about a hundred metres below Kupenite: the two places are natural companions in the Belilkata valley. Some tourism publications call Kupenite "Reseletskite Kukli". The university keeps that name for the geotope in Uleya, and the description "more than 20 rock pinnacles" refers to it, not to Kupenite.
The municipality
The university titles the geotope "Kupenite, village of Reselets", while the tourism page of Cherven Bryag Municipality lists Kupenite near the neighbouring village of Breste, as it does for Skoka. The site follows the university and the register and notes the difference.
Access
Verified access to Skoka does not mean verified access to Kupenite: the pyramids are a separate site with their own terrain. The site publishes no directions until the place has been checked separately. The photograph on this page is a licensed frame of 2016 that its author tagged with the register code of the protected site; the site’s own photography will follow once the place is photographed from a verified viewpoint.