Sokole Góry Nature Reserve near Olsztyn

Just outside Olsztyn near Częstochowa, in full view of the castle hill, runs a chain of limestone hills hiding the deepest cave of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The Sokole Góry ("Falcon Hills") reserve protects beech woods, crags and more than a dozen caves – one of them home to beetles that have survived here since the Ice Age.

Protection history

The reserve was created in 1953 with an area of 333.27 ha and reduced in 1963 to just under 216 ha. Since 1 June 2023, after forests including Jodłowa Góra were added, it covers 222.92 ha, with a buffer zone of 347.62 ha around it. It lies between Olsztyn and the villages of Zrębice and Biskupice. The hills – Sokola Góra, Pustelnica, Puchacz, Donica, Karzełek and Setki – are limestone covered with loess, from which bare rocks with karst features emerge.

The caves and their inhabitants

• Studnisko (also called the Deep Cave) is 75.5 m deep, the deepest cave on the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. Its entrance opens into a vertical shaft 28 m deep. The first person known to reach the bottom was a calcite prospector from Olsztyn, lowered on a windlass in 1907.
• Studnisko hosts a summer breeding colony of greater mouse-eared bats – one of only two underground breeding colonies in Poland. Such colonies usually form in attics.
• In the Cave under Sokola Góra, which stays at around +3°C all year, live two subspecies of beetle regarded as Ice Age relics.
• Other caves include Olsztyńska, Koralowa, Urwista and Maurycy's Cave.

What to see

Trails through the reserve include the red Eagles' Nests Trail, the black Barbara Rychlik trail, an educational path marked with a yellow diamond, and St Giles' Path. Two crags are open for climbing – Pielgrzym and Boniek (Bonifacy). The slopes are covered with beech and oak-hornbeam woods.

Tripto tip

Visitors may only use the marked trails, and all caves are closed to the public to protect the bats and for safety – the entrance to Studnisko is fenced. There are two car parks with shelters and information boards on the road from Olsztyn to Biskupice. Allow 1.5–2 hours for a loop through the reserve, easily combined with the castle ruins in Olsztyn. Climbers must use only the existing bolts.