A trip to the wilderness
Białowieża National Park lies on the border of Poland with Belarus. It is a unique locality of a natural temperate forest, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. You can see centuries-old gigantic oaks, the natural development of the forest and, with a little luck, various species of wild animals (bison, elk, etc.).
Unusual entrance to the park
We went to the forest in an unusual way. As forestry students, we had the opportunity to enter there in a normally inaccessible way through the settlement of Dziedzinka.
Life after life
The deeper we penetrate the forest, the more often we witness how nature works. Old individuals die and continue to play an important role as dead wood, and new individuals have a chance to take over the government. Now the species structure is changing here – the original oaks, spruces and pines are now gradually being replaced by hornbeams and lindens.
Human factor
Demonstration of the original work of people. This pine (still alive!) Has lost much of it. In the past, people used to cut off pieces of it for heating, or so that they could collect resin.
Rain
During the whole visit we were threatened by an incredible number of mosquitoes and raining down on us from the trees :)
Monumental oak
We got out of the unofficial (generally out of any) way and we had the opportunity to see a monumental oak, or rather its torso. Interestingly, this oak is still alive and even growing by a few centimeters on the perimeter per year.
Dead wood
Dead wood is really ubiquitous here. What you can see in this photo are the broken off „pieces“ of oak from the previous photo.
Official entrance
Not to mention, we also visited the official entrance to the national park.
Tsarist palace
Russian Tsar Nicholas II. he became very fond of the Białowieża Forest and spent a lot of time with his family in his palace. Only the gate from the original palace has been preserved.
Bison
Although the Białowieża Forest is known for the most part because of the bison that live here in the wild, you will not normally come across them. However, it is possible to see a bison and many other animals in a nature reserve, but unfortunately in captivity. In any case, you will come across bison themes almost everywhere in the vicinity of Bělověž. Bison statues, shrubs cut into the shape of a bison, we lived in a guesthouse called Žubr, they have Žubr beer or Žubrovka alcoholic beverage :)