Walk along Poland's wild side
MIKOLAJKI, Poland: The clouds in the clear blue sky seem to skirt the rolling hills in Poland's Masuria Province, as we paddle along a stream so clear that the fish can be seen darting amid a carpet of underwater plants.
Masuria is a mecca for tourists seeking unspoilt nature, offering boating opportunities on hundreds of lakes and hiking trails passing through forests, remote villages and rolling hills.
The region, a former part of eastern Prussia, which fell to Poland after World War II, is only just beginning to cater to a wider cross-section of visitors. It was once mostly known as a destination for elderly German "nostalgia tourists" seeking out places of childhood memory.
Meanwhile, however, it has become a hot tip for boating enthusiasts, hikers, cyclists and bird watchers.
Most visitors to Masuria start their tour from the town of Mikolajki, situated roughly halfway between the capital Warsaw and the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk. Mikolajki, the former German town of Nikolaiken boasts a beautifully restored city center with numerous cafes and restaurants lining the waterfront of the Yezioro Sniardvy Lake. Yachts including a boatsman familiar with the waters can be hired for a moderate price.
From Mikolajki, a scenic tree-lined route passes the Yezioro Niegocin Lake on the right side of the road and leads northeast through Gizycko to the Puszca Borecka. It is one of the few remaining wilderness areas of Europe and recently has also become home to the rare wisent, or European bison, which has been resettled in the area as part of a breeding scheme.
With three lakes in the center the Puszca Borecka is a varied landscape of riverlets, marshland, dense deciduous forest and open heath measuring some 25,000 hectares. As one of the few remaining wilderness areas in Europe, it gives some idea of what the central European plain looked like centuries ago.
In the center of the nature park is the idyllic village of Czervony Dvor, where a visitors' center provides helpful information on hiking and bicycle trails. With only a few isolated dirt roads in the area, there is little danger that it will be spoiled by mass tourism.
For canoeing and kayaking, the village of Krutyn, some 20 kilometers southwest of Mikolajki, is the place to go. The Krutinnen River offers some of the most varied riverside scenery of Masuria. We paddled past ancient timber-frame farmhouses, unspoilt reed banks and hundreds of blooming white lake roses. Then, we were met by the solitude of forest, with the treetops forming a tunnel from either side.
Suddenly, the countryside opened up to green meadows and half a dozen storks gracefully circling above. Most of the barns and farmhouses here have a stork nest, and we observed two adult storks feeding a crowded nest of three chicks. Masuria offers almost ideal conditions for the endangered species.
The meadows and fields are populated with a plentiful supply of insects, rodents and reptiles on which the birds feed. The province prides itself to being home to almost a quarter of the estimated 200,000 white storks counted by the German nature organization NABU in Europe for the period 2005/2006.
The locals have for centuries revered the bird, which according to local myth, brings good luck to the house where it builds its nest. As we come closer to the village of Ukta, we spot an angler with a stork only a meter away from him - a picture postcard scene like so much of Masuria.
DPA
(China Daily 06/07/2007 page19)
