We left Warsaw and drove through Bialystok in the rain to Bialowieza village and national park. It’s famous for wild European bison in a forest that is very close to an original untouched forest where logging has been banned for over 100 years.

On the way we admired the large overpass bridges that cater for small roads and wildlife.

We saw some interesting Russian orthodox churches – more here as we are closer to the border.

We arrived in camp Eden that is 10 minutes walk from the national park. It’s cash payment but it’s a well set up little campsite with new toilets, showers and kitchen area. 

We got settled in and Glenn went for an explore on his bike.

It was getting late and showery so we went into the cosy kitchen to make dinner. All supermarkets were closed today on Sunday so I made a throw-together of everything in the fridge – chorizo, vegetables and a tin of tomatoes. It was a nice Spanish stew in the end. As we finished 2 Polish cyclists came in who had braved a day of showers and wind. We had a little chat and then left them to it. 

We went to bed to be ready to explore tomorrow. 

Next morning we went down to the PKKP tourist agency who organise guided tours of the protected area that you can’t enter by yourself. We were lucky to get onto a tour tomorrow morning at 8am. We also got details of a bike tours we could do ourselves today. 

We went off on our own bike tour along very quiet roads. We saw lots of apple trees absolutely chockablock with apples. We stopped and picked some. There were also some good stork nests around – but no storks.

Our next stop was an observatory tower. We saw a lesser spotted eagle soaring over the trees. 

Next was the Royal Oaks walking circuit around a royal hunting manor used from the 1300s to the 1600s by Polish Kings and Lithuanian dukes. Oaks had been planted in the 1400s which are still there today.

11 of the 18 Polish ruler’s came to Old Bialowieza. The manor is not there any more but archeology was done to find the foundations of the manor – of walls and stoves.

There is a circular boardwalk with a board for each royal visitor telling us about their lives and how many bison, wolves and moose they killed. At least they were not wasteful as they salted it all and took it home with them. In some cases they were shooting to order for their own upcoming wedding. 

In later times the peasants drove the game towards the king and his shooting party down fenced channels. They just had to stand there and shoot. This was a new pavilion where the king and guests could shoot from.

 A new manor was built in New Bialowieza which is where the national park is. Unfortunately it was destroyed by the Nazis in WWII. It was fascinating to hear all the stories. 

We then got back on our bikes and after a wrong turn got to the show animal reserve. This is next to the larger area where bison were bred from the 1930s in order to repopulate the forest after the bison had all been killed during and just after WW1. Various bison were brought from around the world for breeding. In 1952 the first bison were released into the national park. Others were released later. There are now over 800 roaming free in the park.

In addition to the European bison we saw żubroń (a bison-cattle hybrid), Konik horses related to the first horse,  moose, red deer, roe deer, sleeping wild boar, wolves, and a 3 legged lynx.

It was good to see they had large-ish enclosures. 

When we left it was 2pm and we were  near the campsite. We cycled  back for lunch. It was then getting late so we got into using the free washing machine and got many washings done. 

Meanwhile Sean made chicken curry for dinner. The campsite was getting busy so we had to eat in our van. 

It was early to bed for our 8am tour in the National park tomorrow.