For most Poles I know the bisons of Bialowieza are a symbol of their country. The core zone of the park is a fully protected nature reserve housing the last bisons of Europe as well as other rare animals that roam freely between Poland and Belarus.

Seeing that you will probably not run into a bison on your own, the park also has a small zoo with all the key animals on exhibition. The zoo is embedded in the forest and gives you a rather representative image of the wild life.

Due to a lack of preparation and in my opinion rather poor online resources I wasn’t aware of the access restrictions. While the museum and the bison reserve are part of the core zone, I could not venture into the forest itself as you need a guide and we didn’t have a reservation. This was a bit underwhelming. Indeed, I had a hard time taking a nice picture, never a good sign. At the end, I was left wondering if this wouldn’t be better served as a Unesco biodiversity hotspot. Maybe it's better on the Belarus side, though.

Of late the Polish government is reviewing the protections of the park. They would like to extend logging activities. A minister is on record saying that the site should be converted to a cultural site. I am hard pressed to see the cultural value here apart from the large imprint on Polish cultural identity. If the Poles move ahead with their plans, the Polish side of the park may well be a candidate for a future delisting.

Getting There

There are regular busses running from Bialystok to Bialowieza. If you have a car I would recommend doing the small detour via Narewka along the park border. Supposedly you can also access the park from the Northern side.

Getting In

At the park museum you can join guided tours into the protected area. In high season (e.g. long weekends), you will need a reservation. Luckily, the area around the museum is part of the core zone. And the bison reserve is, too. How and where trails run seems a bit hard to discern.

You can visit the Belarus side as pedestrian without visa. You need a passport and health insurance that you can obtain in the town plus a filled out form.

While You Are There

The Russian Tsar had a hunting lodge here that you can visit. He even left his historic train at the train station he had built.

The area along the road from Bialystok is dotted with wooden churches akin to inscribed churches of Poland, but more recent in nature and way more colourful. In a way they reminded me of the Chiloe churches. Bialystok itself is a pleasant stop over. And you will cross plenty of swamps along your way.