Stobrawa Landscape Park

Almost 80 per cent of the park is forest, mostly pine growing on sandy dunes, while the Oder valley holds riverside woods, oak-hornbeam forest and oxbow lakes covered with water chestnut. Stobrawa Landscape Park is one of the largest landscape parks in Poland and the youngest in Opole Province. It lies north of Opole in the Stobrawa river basin and suits cyclists, birdwatchers and anyone looking for quiet.

The park in numbers

The park was created on 28 September 1999 and originally covered about 52,600 ha; according to the Opole Landscape Parks authority it now covers more than 60,000 ha after a boundary change. It stretches across a dozen or so municipalities in the Opole, Namysłów, Kluczbork and Brzeg districts, from Lubsza and Lewin Brzeski to Kluczbork and Wołczyn. The Stobrawa, Budkowiczanka, Bogacica, Brynica and Smortawa rivers flow through it, and the Oder and the Nysa Kłodzka form its southern edge. The park office is in Ładza, in the municipality of Pokój. ("Landscape park" is a Polish protected-area category that allows farming and settlement.)

What to see

• The Oder valley in the south, the most valuable area: riverside and oak-hornbeam forest, wet meadows and oxbows with floating water fern.
• Dunes covered with pine forest, up to about 20 metres high, running through the park's forests.
• Nature reserves such as Barucice (oak-hornbeam and riverside forest), Lubsza, Rogalice (alder woods) and Leśna Woda (old trees with larch and beech), all in the municipality of Lubsza.
• Fish ponds, a refuge for waterbirds.
• The park in Pokój, laid out in the second half of the 18th century by Duke Carl Christian Erdmann of Württemberg, and the botanical garden in Zagwiździe from the 1920s.

Wildlife

Around 240 protected animal species breed in the park, including 151 bird species. The park's symbol is the red kite; black kites, white-tailed eagles, lesser spotted eagles and middle spotted woodpeckers also live here, along with forest and edible dormice. Beavers and otters can be seen along the rivers. More than 60 protected plants grow here, among them royal fern, round-leaved sundew, martagon lily and seven orchid species. The park includes six nature reserves, eight ecological sites and 131 natural monuments, and parts of it are in the Natura 2000 network.

Tripto tip

This is cycling country: flat, wooded and crossed by several hundred kilometres of walking and cycling trails. For a first trip, try the area around Pokój and Ładza or the forest roads around the Barucice reserve near Lubsza. Allow half a day for a cycling loop. In spring and early summer bring insect repellent, especially in the river valleys. The reserves are strictly protected, so stay on marked paths. Download the park map from the Opole Landscape Parks website before you go.