Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Puszcza Bialowieska

Białowieża Primaeval Forest, known as Belaveskaya Pushcha or Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus and Puszcza Białowieska in Poland, is an ancient woodland straddling the border between Belarus and Poland, located 70 km north of Brest. It is the only remaining part of the immense forest which once spread across the European Plain.

Year Decision Comments
1999Extension rejectedPoland can extend the Park but the additional area will not be added to the WHS
1992 Inscribed Reasons for inscription
1978DeferredBureau- IUCN want it referred to European Bison org. for expert evaluation

Reviews

Christer Sundberg (Sweden):
The National Park of Bialowieza is located on the eastern border of Poland and is actually shared with neighbouring Beylorussia though there is no chance of crossing the border in the park. The Bialowieza Park coves approx 105 sq km and in its centre lies the small village with the same name, home for some 3000 inhabitants, a couple of hotels and numerous B&B’s.

It once started as hunting ground for the Polish monarchs and was later taken over by the Russian Tsars who built a massive hunting castle, unfortunately blown up by the retreating Germans in 1944, during WWII.

My own stay in Bialowieza lasted for three days so I could fully enjoy this green, low-land forest, home to numerous birds and mammals such as elk, stag, wild boar, lynx, wolves and the King of the Forest – the Zubr – the European Bison.

The Bison have become the parks logotype and also its claim to international fame. When the bison was on the verge of extinction in the late 19th century a massive breeding program was started in the park and today the bison is secured and roaming freely in the park. A few kilometres from the Bialowieza village is also a ranch were you can see the bison and also the mighty “zubron”, a cross-breeding between cow and bison as well as the tarpan, a small mouse-coloured horse, which was also on the verge of extinction at the late 19th century.

Bialowieza is a place for total relaxation, hiking, bird-watching or whatever you feel like being close to Mother Nature. Getting to this remote corner of Europe is not an easy one. But it is extremely rewarding when the sun is shining on a beautiful, warm summer day on a forest that once covered most of the European continent.
Date posted: September 2006


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