Poland’s Bialowieza National Park contains what is probably the last surviving segment of Europe’s primeval forest – and it has inhabitants to match. Dan Hayes heads for the trees
Photos: www.thewideangle.com / www.bartpogoda.com
We are deep in the forest when a large black shape flashes through the trees and crashes away to the left. ‘Wild boar,’ whispers Tomasz Kaminski, a researcher at Poland’s Mammal Research Institute. ‘I think we’re getting close.’
For the past half hour, guided by Kaminski’s compass, map and forest knowledge, we have moved further and further into the thick trees and undergrowth of Poland’s Bialowieza National Park in search of a survivor of an age when giant mammals roamed the continent at will – the European bison. Kaminski, an expert in the animals’ behaviour, is encumbered by a large hand-held aerial, which is receiving signals from one of a few individuals to be fitted with a radio collar. Thanks to this we have gradually homed in on our quarry.
Suddenly, he stops. ‘Bison… Bison,’ he whispers, pointing towards a stand of sun-dappled beach and maple trees. Even through binoculars I cannot see anything but foliage, tree trunks and shadows. Then something moves. One of the shadows has a tail. A group of five or six bison is grazing among the trees. Despite their massive size they are almost silent and their dusty grey flanks are perfectly camouflaged among the trunks.
Bialowieza forest is one of the last places where you can see the European bison in the wild. Situated in the north east of Poland, it is a four-hour drive from Warsaw through villages where head-scarved women herd cows along the main road, where freshly picked mushrooms are sold in lay-bys and where village elders sit on benches watching lorries clatter past on their way to all parts of the EU.
While much of the forest has been actively managed for at least 100 years, one strictly protected area on the Polish side, measuring 4,747ha, has remained virtually untouched. This fragment is probably all that remains of the primeval lowland forest that once covered vast tracts of Europe. It has an ecosystem to match, with wolves, red deer, lynx, elk and beaver all present – as well as numerous smaller lifeforms. The area owes its survival as a forest to the kings of Poland and, later, the tsars of Russia – for whom it was a royal hunting ground.
Mateusz Szymura, tourism manager at Bialowieza National Park, says: ‘The forest has existed here for 10,000 years – since the last Ice Age. Then, in the medieval period, when many areas were being cleared – this place became a royal hunting ground and the bison was declared a species that only kings could hunt. In those days, the kings of Poland also controlled Lithuania and this area was a good stopping off point between their courts in Krakow and Vilnius.’
Before my own bison hunt I walk with Szymura from the village of Bialowieza, past meadows that are rapidly transforming into birch woods, towards the towering trees of the ancient forest. Inside, you are struck immediately by the huge size of some of the trunks, the limited light and the amount of moss-covered dead wood that litters the ground.
‘People are often surprised by how untidy the forest looks,’ says Szymura, ‘but a fallen tree is home to perhaps 1,000 species. When it was living that same tree housed maybe 100. So you shouldn’t really call it dead wood, it’s still living.’
Full of life it may be, but the forest is far from impenetrable. The ground cover is nowhere near as thick as you might expect – and for obvious reasons: deer and wild boar eat seedlings and shrubs, and the canopy created by those giant trees limits the amount of light that reaches the ground. The only time that canopy is breached is when one of the giants falls.
And therein lies a subject for debate. The strictly protected area where we are standing forms but a tiny fragment of a larger national park that lies within an overall tract of forest that covers around 150,000ha – 62,500ha in Poland, 87,500ha in Belarus. Commercial foresters often have a different understanding of what constitutes good practice than national park wardens. This debate has latterly surfaced in the shape of what to do with a creature called the bark beetle
Dendroctonus micans, which, while it may look insignificant, can bring down a 50m-high spruce tree. Conventional forestry wisdom involves either felling infected trees and quarantining an area of forest or introducing a predatory beetle, Rhizophagus grandis, to provide a biological solution to the problem.
If you are preserving a forest as a primeval relic untouched by humanity, however, you cannot offer up solutions that involve chainsaws and introduced species. Szymura says: ‘The bark beetles are part of the natural process. Yes, they will kill some trees, but they won’t kill them all – that’s not in their interest. Also – and very importantly – when an old tree falls, it opens up a big gap where young trees can flourish – ultimately helping the forest regenerate. The beetles are part of nature – there’s no such thing as a pest here.’
Nature’s relationship with humanity is a theme that keeps rearing its head in this part of Poland. Take those European bison, for example. Beneath their hulking exterior they may harbour genetic weaknesses. The reason for this is that the majority of animals here are descended from just seven bison, reintroduced to Bialowieza from a number of zoos after the entire herd was killed by poachers and soldiers during World War I.
Dr Krzysztof Niedzialkowski explains the situation when I meet up with him in the quiet, modern headquarters of the Mammal Research Institute in the village. ‘That low genetic diversity could have a negative effect,’ he says, ‘so we have to monitor the situation regularly and try to diversify the population as much as we can.’
Another way to help protect the animals is by expanding their range so that, instead of one big population, there are a number of separate groups. Such a move would also help guard against disease. ‘In winter, the bison are fed with hay at various places in the forest – it’s a tradition that dates back around 300 years,’ adds Niedzialkowski, ‘so we end up with large concentrations of animals that provide potential for the spread of parasites and disease and also contribute to more aggressive behaviour.’
The answer may lie in creating corridors of habitat complete with feeding stations that lure the bison to pastures new or, more precisely, alternative areas of forest. What is good for bison, however, may not be perceived as being so good by local villagers.
‘
Bison aren’t always seen positively by neighbouring communities,’ says Niedzialkowski. ‘And occasionally there are problems. Recently one individual in particular moved into an inhabited area and became more and more accustomed to people.
He began approaching cows in the fields and was responsible for some minor attacks. Ultimately, the animal had to be shot.’
Environmentalists such as Niedzialkowski would like to see the area of National Park increased, to allow for more wildlife-friendly management and boost the area’s tourism potential. Such ideas, however, are not always well received by local communities who believe their access to the forest might be reduced and forestry jobs may be lost.
The hope now is that a larger, zoned park can be created with separate areas primarily dedicated to wildlife, commercial forestry and recreation. That still leaves one problem, however. Currently, the border fence that divides Poland – and the rest of the EU – from Belarus runs straight through the forest, dividing it in two and separating two populations of bison that, combined, would have more genetic diversity and be more sustainable. That border fence is unlikely to come down any time soon, though there has been some debate about a possible electronic replacement.
The forest is certainly a barrier in itself. Visitors are generally encouraged not to leave the designated tracks and it is extremely easy to become disorientated amid the grey and white trunks.
In our quest for bison we have strayed far from the path. The sun is going down now and the foliage is beginning to take on a mellow, golden hue. The bison have moved on and there is silence in the forest, broken only by the sound of falling leaves. Suddenly, not very far away, a red deer begins to roar out a challenge – a deep, throaty growl that sounds as if it belongs to some sort of primeval forest creature.
I am glad my guide has a compass and knows how to use it.
How to get there
From Warsaw airport it is a four- or five-hour drive to Bialowieza National Park.
www.lot.pl
Organised tours
Tour company Biebrza Explorer organises tours to Bialowieza, the Biebrza wetlands and other areas of natural beauty in Poland.
Tel: (+48) 604 065 162.
www.biebrza-explorer.pl
Where to stay
The Hotel Bialowieski is situated in Bialowieza village in the national park.
www.hotel.bialowieza.pl
Where to stay
Hotel Le Regina Koscielna 12 Warsaw
Tel: (+48) 22 531 6000
www.leregina.com
InterContinental Warsaw
ul Emilii Plater 49
Warsaw
Tel: (+48) 22 328 8888
www.intercontinental.com
Le Royal Meridien
Bristol
Krakowskie
Przedmiescie 42/44
Warsaw
Tel: (+48) 22 551 1000
www.starwoodhotels.com
Radisson SAS Hotel
Centrum Warszawa
Grzybowska 24
Warsaw
Tel: (+48) 22 321 8888
www.radissonsas.com
