Warsaw to Bialowieza NP

What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. ~William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways

May 5,2009, Tuesday, Warsaw to Bialowieza NP--- The Mercedes Benz Dealer is our first stop to get an oil change and new oil filter, and since we didn’t have an appointment it took a while.
The drive from Warsaw at noon to Bialowieza NP 5:30 PM was a long SLOW GO. It seems Poland has 3 main areas, Industrial -Krakow/Warsaw; Farmland mostly everywhere and one Green area in the northeast. As we drive away from the city the roads progressively deteriorate ---from four lanes divided—to two lanes divided—to two lanes white line, --to two lane not white line -to 1 ½ lanes no line, and 4 to 5 foot drop as a shoulder?
Bialowieza is Poland’s oldest NP. Unesco has designated this area as both a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. The forest contains 120 species of birds, along with elk, wild boar and wolves. However, the claim to fame here is the European Bison, once almost extinct now has been successfully reintroduced to its ancient home.

Look how close we are to Russia, 4 kilometers

May 6, 2009, Wednesday, Camping U. Michala, Bialowiera NP, Poland. The campground is nice and clean, even has electricity. In such a remote area, we weren’t sure what to expect. The “camp lady” speaks Polish, of course, and German. So when I don’t understand Polish, she speaks loud, slow German!? When we say “thank you” in polish…people smile or laugh…we are not sure if we are mutilating the language or if they appreciate our small effort.
After a stop at the NP Office, no English spoken here, we walked across the bridge to Palace Park. For centuries this area has been a hunting playground for royalty. The Russian Tsar built a huge palace and today it is a rebuilt Info Center/Museum/Hotel/ Restaurant.
We opted for the 9km hike along Zebra Trail. The boardwalk (wooden ramp over swamp) ran for 2+kilometers and was in dire need of repair. The trail was pleasant, flat and well marked. It had stopping stations with info about the trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. The hike came to The European Bison Reserve” where we purchased tickets, we had visions of Yellowstone…NOT so. Just a few weird animals in a corral; one was a hybrid horse/zebra, another a domestic cow/bison… it was an animal freak show. The few bison we saw were in a fenced-in area.
This village expects tourists, and they are ready to take advantage of the dollar, the euro, the yen, whatever. Sorry Poland you get a low score on this place.

---

---