At 6.00 am just over a week ago a party of about 12 of us left for a walk in the Bialowieza national park - the oldest such park in Poland having been established in 1921. It is primeval boreal forest - the last patch of natural lowland forest in Europe much as it emerged from the last ice age.
The early departure was to try to see some of the park's shy inhabitants to best advantage. These include the few remaining European Bison, red deer, and pigs (or boar). Alas we saw nothing apart from hectares of beautiful trees hundreds of years old and a few of some 3000 species of fungi (including some 450 types of mushroom). The terrain is damp and swampy in places, which was also ideal for mosses and lichens.
At the entrance to the park lay a Palace Park dating back to when the area was a hunting ground of the Tsars of Russia, though the Palace itself seems to have disappeared.
Despite the absence of big fauna, it was a wonderful experience to wander through a deathly quiet landscape virtually untouched from the receding ice age.
AS
No comments:
Post a Comment