Strict Protection Area of Białowieża National Park

The Strict Protection Area of Białowieża National Park is the most valuable part of the Białowieża Forest – a natural forest that nobody planted and where no forestry has been practised for over a century. More than 6,059 ha are under strict protection. You can enter only with a licensed guide, along the unmarked "To the Jagiełło Oak" route.

History: from a 1921 reserve to UNESCO

Part of this area belonged to the reserves set aside on 29 December 1921 on the initiative of naturalists and foresters led by Professor Władysław Szafer. From 1 January 1929 the former Rezerwat forest district was placed under strict protection, and in 1932 it became the National Park in Białowieża. The park has existed in its present form since 1947. In 1979 the Strict Protection Area was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and in 1992 the listing was extended to the adjoining Belarusian part of the forest.

Today the area lies within the Rezerwat Protection District of 10,242 ha, of which 6,059 ha are strictly protected. Every element of nature is protected here – soil, water, plants, animals, fungi and landscape – as are traces of past human activity: burial mounds, beekeeping trees and charcoal-burning sites.

What to see

• Uneven-aged forest – every stage of a tree's life, from seedling to dead trunk.
• Dead wood – standing snags, broken stems and uprooted trees; in the strict area it makes up about 25% of all tree biomass.
• Rare species – including the fungi Fomitopsis rosea and Hericium coralloides, the beetles Buprestis splendens and Cucujus cinnaberinus, and three-toed and white-backed woodpeckers.
• The Jagiełło Oak – the decaying trunk of a tree felled by a gale on 2 November 1974.

Curiosities: a legend made to order

Legend has it that King Władysław Jagiełło rested beneath the Jagiełło Oak before the hunt that preceded the Grunwald campaign. In reality the oak was no more than about 450 years old and 39 m tall. The legend was invented by Jan Jerzy Karpiński, head of the reserve from 1928, to draw tourists from the centre of Białowieża deep into the forest. Saplings were grown from acorns gathered after the tree fell; one of them, jokingly called "Jagiellończyk", grows in the garden of the Białowieża Geobotanical Station.

Tripto tips

The "To the Jagiełło Oak" route is 7 km long, 4 km of it through the former Strict Reserve; it takes about 3 hours. A guide may lead no more than 10 people. The park does not provide guides – hire one from a local travel agency first and only then buy your ticket (at the park's ticket offices or online). Bikes and horse carts are allowed only with a guide or with the director's permission, and dogs are not permitted. Wear comfortable shoes and bring insect repellent – part of the route crosses wet alder woodland.