Unbelievable, but a fact – in Bulgaria in 1925 there were about 1500 camels, almost half of them bred in Topolovgrad. In fact, the old name of Topolovgrad is Kavakli, and the earliest data about the settlement is from an Ottoman tax register of 1492/1493, where a settlement is listed under the name Kavklu, InfoSpravka writes.
In the last decades of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the Kavaklia region became the arena of Kardzhali raids – there was a whirlwind of Indje Voivode, whose bailiff was Kara Kolyo from the village of Omarchevo.
But where do the camels come from in Kavakli/Topolovgrad?
After the end of the First World War, the appearance of the city changed radically – all the previous Kariotes moved out and in their place came Bulgarian refugees, mainly from White Sea and Odrin Thrace, as well as several dozen families from Aegean Macedonia.
A large part of the population of the Dedeaga village of Enikoi, engaged in camel breeding, settled in the city, which later gave rise to the nickname “camilari” of the people of Kavaklia, by which they became known in the area.
Camels were bred in Kavakli and were mainly used to transport goods such as ore, coal, sand and foodstuffs in hard-to-reach areas of South-Eastern Bulgaria.
With the development of technology and the railway, camels began to lose their importance. Data on the last camels in Topolovgrad date from 1974. The last camels were sold to butchers in Haskovo.
However, people in Topolovgrad still remember the times of camel farming and tell legends about the days gone by.
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