Visit unique primaval forest in Poland - meet the wildlife: Białowieża national park:
Białowieża National Park (Polish: Białowieski Park Narodowy) is a National Park in Podlaskie Voivodeship, in Eastern Poland adjacent with the border with Belarus. The total area of the park is 152.2 square kilometres (58.8 sq mi). It is located 62 km (39 mi) southeast of Białystok (Poland). It is known for the protection of the best preserved part of the Białowieża Forest, Europe's last temperate primaeval forest fragment that once stretched across the European Plain. It is home to the world's largest population of European bison (Polish: żubr), the continent's heaviest land animals.2 The border between the two countries runs through the forest, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is adjacent on the Belarus side of the border. There is a border crossing for hikers and cyclists within the forest.
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
Primal forest - facts from Wikipedia:
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