Oder Meanders Lookout Tower, Zabełków

On the last few kilometres before the Olza joins it, the Oder still flows as it pleases: it undercuts its banks, builds gravel islands and can even cut through its own bends. The best place to see this is the 27-metre steel lookout tower in Zabełków, on the edge of the Natura 2000 site "Oder Border Meanders", right on the Czech border. 114 steel steps lead to the top, and entry is free.

The tower and the trail

The tower was officially opened on 14 October 2017. It was built as part of a Polish-Czech project, "The Oder and Olza closer to tourists and residents of the borderland", co-funded by the EU's Interreg programme. The structure is steel with timber posts. There are two landings on the way up, and the last one, at the very top, is roofed. The tower is a stop on a 3.5 km educational trail about protecting the meanders, which follows marked cycle routes. Next to it is a shelter where you can rest.

A river that shapes itself

The stretch of the Oder between the Bohumín–Chałupki bridge and the mouth of the Olza, together with the riverside meadows and floodplain woods, is of very high natural value. It supports alder-ash and willow-poplar riparian woodland protected at European level, and more than 126 plant species have been recorded nearby. Rare butterflies live here — a rare marsh-dwelling blue and the large copper — as well as endangered beetles: the hermit beetle and the scarlet flat bark beetle. The yellow-bellied toad breeds in the shallows, beavers and otters live in the meanders, and kingfishers and little ringed plovers nest here.

The Silesianka trail

The tower is part of the cross-border Silesianka trail, which links 34 viewpoints on both sides of the Polish-Czech border. Nearby are the castle tower in Tworków, the tower in Pogrzebień, the platform in the Moravian Gate Arboretum in Racibórz and the tower in Pietrowice Wielkie.

Tripto tip

There are two ways to reach the tower. The shorter, about 700 m, starts at a free car park in Zabełków; the longer, about 3.5 km along the river, starts from a free car park in Chałupki — a good route by bike. The path is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs, but the tower itself is not, and the narrow stairs may be hard for anyone afraid of heights. The tower is open for most of the year except the winter months. From the top you can see the Oder's loops, Chałupki and the Czech town of Bohumín; allow 1–1.5 hours including a short walk.