National parks

Strictly Protected Area of Białowieża National Park

At the heart of Białowieża National Park lies the Strictly Protected Area: more than 6,000 hectares of forest excluded from any forestry management for nearly a century. It preserves the best-surviving part of the Białowieża Primeval Forest — Europe's last lowland old-growth woodland. The park was designated as the National Park in Białowieża on 11 August 1932 and re-established in its present form on 21 November 1947, making it the second oldest national park in Poland after the Pieniny range, and one of the first in Europe.

Behind the oak gate

Entry leads through an oak gate from 1930, joined without a single nail, using only wooden pegs. Just behind it a line of glacial erratics honours scholars who served the forest's protection, including Prof. Władysław Szafer. The trail first crosses a lime-oak-hornbeam forest, then descends towards alder woods at the fork of the Hwoźna and Narewka rivers, not far from the border of the Belarusian national park. Along the way grows the Oak Bartny — over 40 metres tall and an estimated 400–600 years old — while the Oak of Jagiełło, toppled by a gale in 1974, still lies there as a slowly decaying trunk. Legend has it that King Władysław Jagiełło pitched his camp here when the future monument was still a young oak.

A treasure on a European scale

The forest shelters the world's largest free-ranging population of European bison, counting several hundred animals. Inside the strict reserve one rule applies: nothing leaves the forest, dead trees rot where they fell, and nature keeps its own calendar.

Practical notes

Visits are possible only with a guide licensed by Białowieża National Park, in groups, along designated trails. The starting point is the village of Białowieża.