Puszcza Bialowieska: Poland’s highly acclaimed wild forest

The Bialowieza National Park is Poland’s oldest national park. It is recognized by Unesco as both a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage site and boasts over 100 species of birds, along with elk, wild boars, wolves and the European bison (zubr). Given these descriptions I had high expectations and purposefully adjusted my itinerary to see this amazing forest and the bison (not a small feat given that it was at least 4-5 hours out of my way).

Well, the only way to visit the Strict Nature Reserve (the area of the forest where nothing can be touched or done, where the trees and nature are left to do their own bidding), is via a 3 hour guided tour. After my 2.5 hour bus ride to Bialowieza I was lucky enough to be able to join a group of 10 others on this tour (thereby keeping my costs down to a mere 11 zloty). Well, the tour first took us through the Palace Park, where I was shown Canadian Pines, American Ash, and Weymouth Firs (I might be mixing up the tree species, since botany is not my strong point). However, these exotic trees were a highlight as they are not known in Europe. We then proceeded into the Strict Nature Reserve which is a mixture of coniferous and pine forest that has been allowed to grow in its natural fashion for the last couple hundred of years. Again various plants and trees were pointed out, including a 300 year old pine (swierk???) that was a couple meters in circumference. We were shown one that had fallen over 12 years ago and whose roots still created a round disk in the air, and a dab that had toppled in 1975 and was slowly rotting away. Oh, and I must not forget the one dead mole and one dead frog that I saw.

Now, I know that this is cynical, but compare such a tour with a hike around Buntzen Lake, where some of the trees would take at least 5 people holding hands to reach around, where the stumps of old trees form the home for new trees, where the forest has ran its own course for countless centuries. Well, Butzen Lake is about a 10 minute drive from my home. Drive a further few hours and you will find yourself in the midst of the West Coast Rainforest which would put Bialowieza to shame. Consider the oldest and widest tree we saw on the West Coast Trail which would take 10-15 people with hands outstretched to surround it. Consider the ancient Sequoias in California, one through which a car can drive through and the other which was used as a bridge for cars to drive over. Bialowieza still has another 1,000 years to go before its wilderness could even begin to compete with our back yard.

But I’m forgetting the European bison for which this Reserve is so famous. There are apparently 451 running wild in the reserve, havi

ng been painstakingly reintroduced into the reserve. Between 1919 and 1929 there was no bison left alive. In 1929 the reintroduction started with the purchase of 5, from which their numbers have slowly multiplied. Well, we didn’t see any on our tour (not surprising). I was, however, told to go to the European Bison Reserve where I could see them in a zoo like setting. I did go and I did see them. 8 or 10 were hiding in the grass some 50 meters from the fence.

Now again, I might be a little unfair in comparing, but consider Yellowstone National Park. There along the river we saw a herd of bison grazing, cooling off in the water and in the sand. The following morning when we woke up and stuck our heads out of our tent we realized that our campground was surrounded by a heard of grazing bison. One was maybe 5 meters away from our tent. Later on by Salt Lake City we nearly drove into one in our attempt to find our camping spot at night. We have photos (one of them attached here) posing in a bison like stance with the beast several meters behind us.

With all that said, I must admit that I was impressed by one thing: the amount of mosquitoes there. I don’t think I have ever been devoured to that extent, even through the long pants I was wearing and the sweatshirt that I put on despite the heat.

Overall, my advice is as follows: if you have done any kind of hiking in western Canada, you can easily skip a visit to Bialowieza; if in addition, you had seen bison somewhere in the wild, whether in Alberta or the US, then you can definitely skip Bialowieza. The only proviso I would put on this is in winter time. I think that a sleigh ride through this forest would be quite magical. Also, if you do spend a night there, try to organize a tour very early in the morning, even before dawn. Head out either on a sleigh or on a walking tour (if in summer) some time around 4am, see the forest wake up, see the mist slowly lift, and that is also your best chance to see the bison grazing in the wild. If not, then go for a hike around Buntzen Lake, on Vancouver Island, or anywhere else along the west coast and truly appreciate the beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis.