Visit unique primaval forest in Poland - meet the wildlife: Eastern borderlands of Poland
Polish eastern borderlands are a very interesting area. This is the place where three cultures meets - Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim. Worth to know is a culture of Tatars minority - these lands were given to them by the Polish king as reward for bravery in the battle. Tatar culture is very interesting and exotic, you can taste special and very unique cuisine, see the historic wooden mosques and the old Muslim cemetery. Besides cultural values, this region is the largest natural wealth of Poland - the two largest national parks - Biebrzanski (which is best in spring) and Bialowieski - natural wealth both these places are stunning - the only one primeval forest in Europe and unique backwaters of the Biebrza River is something worth seeing .
From Wikipedia - about Białowieża forest
Białowieża Forest (Belarusian: ??????????? ?????, Biełaviežskaja Pušča; Polish: Puszcza Białowieska Polish pronunciation: ?pu?t??a ?b?aw??v??ska ( listen); Russian: ??????????? ????, Belovezhskaya Pushcha) is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal.2 UNESCO?s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve Białowieża in 19763 and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve Belovezhskaya Puschcha in 1993.4 In 2015, the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve occupied the area of 216,200 ha (2,162 km2; 835 sq mi), subdivided into transition, buffer and core zones.5 The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site6 and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee by its decision of June 2014 approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site ?Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland?, which became ?Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland?.7 It straddles the border between Poland (Podlaskie Voivodeship) and Belarus (Brest Voblast and Hrodna Voblast), and is 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Brest, Belarus and 62 kilometres (39 miles) southeast of Białystok, Poland. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers a total area of 141,885 ha (1,418.85 km2; 547.82 sq mi).8 Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82owie%C5%BCa_Forest
About primeval forest
An old-growth forest ? also termed primary forest, virgin forest, primeval forest, late seral forest, or (in Britain) ancient woodland ? is a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibits unique ecological features and might be classified as a climax community.1 Old-growth features include diverse tree-related structures that provide diverse wildlife habitat that increases the bio-diversity of the forested ecosystem. The concept of diverse tree structure includes multi-layered canopies and canopy gaps, greatly varying tree heights and diameters, and diverse tree species and classes and sizes of woody debris.
Old-growth forests are economically valuable, and logging of these forests has been a point of contention between the logging industry and environmentalists.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-growth_forest