Camp Academia hosted the base camp of the Bulgarian topographic survey Tangra 2004/05 from 3 December 2004 until 2 January 2005. The survey was both shipborne from the ships Vanguardia and Akademik Vavilov, and onshore at Livingston Island and Half Moon Island, and was carried out from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005 by the two-member team of Lyubomir Ivanov and Doychin Vasilev who covered either on ski or on foot an overall distance of some 200 km, mostly in harsh weather conditions and challenging unfamiliar terrain in Tangra Mountains, Bowles Ridge, Vidin Heights and the glaciers Huron, Kaliakra and Perunika. First ascents were made of the peaks of Lyaskovets, Ongal, Zograf, Komini, Melnik, Miziya, and several lesser peaks, as well as the third ascent of the summit Mount Friesland. Extensive geodetic and geographic information was gathered, including coordinates and elevation data, actual sea shoreline and ice-free zones configuration, as well as a detailed photographic documentation of previously unexplored and remote areas in the interior of Livingston Island and Greenwich Island. Based on the survey, some 150 geographical features were mapped for the first time and a new 1:100000 topographic map of the two islands was published in 2005. Data from the topographic survey Tangra 2004/05 was used also in the 2008 Bulgarian map of Livingston, Greenwich, Robert, Snow, and Smith Islands. Field work carried out from Camp Academia during the Tangra 2004/05 survey has been noted by Discovery Channel, the Natural History Museum, the Royal Collection and the British Antarctic Survey as a timeline event in Antarctic exploration.
Subsequent occupation
Camp Academia hosted the base camps for the first ascent of Great Needle Peak by the Bulgarians Doychin Boyanov, Nikolay Petkov and Aleksander Shopov on 8 January 2015, and the first ascent of St. Boris Peak by Boyanov and Petkov on 22 December 2016.
Tangra 1091 Post Office
The post office Antarctica Tangra 1091 of Bulgarian Posts Plc operated during the entire duration of the expedition Tangra 2004/05 in Antarctica from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005, in Camp Academia from 3 December 2004 until 2 January 2005. The office was given the postcode 1091, and was run by Postmaster Lyubomir Ivanov in compliance with standard Bulgarian postal regulations and procedures. The mailing address of the office was: Camp Academia; 1091 Tangra; Livingston Island; Antarctica. The mail was cancelled by a standard circular Bulgarian handstamping cancellation seal with an inscription “POSTE BULGARE ANTARKTIKA TANGRA 1091” on its periphery and date/hour counter in the centre. Other occasional cachets applied on Tangra 1091 mail often included the triangular cachet of Camp Academia with an inscription “ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION TANGRA 2004 CAMP ACADEMIA” and/or other personal, station and ship postmarks. A total of 517 outgoing mail consignments were shipped, 364 of them via Sofia, 150 via Punta Arenas, and 3 via the St. Kliment Ohridski post office. These were distributed geographically between 30 country destinations as follows: Bulgaria – 146, Germany – 144, Belgium – 54, Chile – 50, Britain – 18, U.S.A. – 15, Spain – 13, New Zealand – 11, France – 9, Argentina – 7, Australia – 7, Austria – 7, Switzerland – 7, Falkland Islands – 5, Antarctica – 3, Afghanistan – 2, Czech Republic – 2, Italy – 2, Japan – 2, Portugal – 2, Uruguay – 2, Denmark – 1, Greece – 1, Indonesia – 1, Iraq – 1, Montserrat – 1, Slovakia – 1, Slovenia – 1, South Africa – 1, Vanuatu – 1.
