Sine Wiry Nature Reserve

Here the Wetlinka river squeezes through slanting layers of rock, forming ledges, cascades and deep blue-green whirlpools – the "sine wiry" that gave the reserve its name. Sine Wiry in the western Bieszczady Mountains protects some 445 hectares of wild valley on the land of villages emptied after the Second World War. Forest has swallowed the old farmsteads, and the river and landslides are still reshaping the landscape.

The reserve

The landscape reserve was created by ministerial order on 29 December 1987, published in the official gazette in 1988. It lies in the municipalities of Cisna, Solina and Czarna, inside the Cisna-Wetlina Landscape Park, on land managed by the Cisna and Baligród forest districts. It protects a 7-kilometre gorge section of the Wetlina and Solinka valleys, together with stands of old beech and fir. Around 350 species of vascular plants grow here, including the East Carpathian monkshood and two helleborine orchids listed in the Polish Red Data Book.

The emerald lake that has almost vanished

In September 1980 a slope of Połoma hill slid down and dammed the river. The resulting pool, known as the Emerald Lake, was 280 m long and 20–45 m wide in 1987. By 1992 it had shrunk to about 70 m, and over the years it silted up. Today its green water only shows when the river is high, and a wide stony beach lies where the lake used to be.

In search of vanished villages

The reserve covers the land of the former villages of Łuh, Zawój and Polanki. Zawój, founded under Wallachian law and recorded from 1552, had 284 inhabitants in 1943; after the forced resettlements of 1945–1947 it ceased to exist. A small cemetery with two gravestones and a lime tree 6 m in girth survives. The "Bieszczady Rediscovered" history trail, opened in 2012, runs through Jaworzec, Łuh and Zawój: bilingual Polish-Ukrainian boards mark village boundaries, the sites of Orthodox churches, cemeteries and wells with reconstructed sweeps, visible along the road from Polanki to Kalnica.

Did you know?

• The steep slopes and rock ledges of the Wetlinka feature in the Polish crime series "Wataha" ("The Pack") – they form the backdrop to Rebrow's escape in episode 6 of season one.
• By the river stands a tree known as the "Moose of Zawój", because its shape resembles the animal.
• In Jaworzec, on the edge of the reserve, a PTTK mountain hut has been open since spring 1976.

Tripto tip

• A road runs along the river from Polanki to Kalnica, and two nature trails have been marked out in the reserve; trails to the Połonina Wetlińska ridge also start in Jaworzec. A walk through the valley with detours to the rocky banks usually takes a few hours.
• The rocks by the water are slippery and the river rises fast after rain, so stay off the ledges when the water is high.
• This is wildlife country: keep dogs on a lead and do not leave food scraps behind.
• The valley is at its best from late spring to autumn, when the beech woods change colour.