Białowieża: The last free bisons

The history of the Białowieża Forest (Polish: Puszcza Białowieska) dates back to the 8,000 BC, making it "the only surviving example of the original forests that once covered almost all of Europe", as stated in the substantiation for the status as UNESCO World Heritage. The Puszcza Białowieska National Park is one of the oldest in Europe and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. It was already founded in 1932. Since 1945, the border between Poland and Belarus runs through the Białowieski Forest. The terrain area is over 1,500 square kilometers, of which there are 620 square kilometers on the Polish side. In the southeast of the Podlaskie Voivodeship lies the village of Białowieża, the last remaining lowland virgin forest in Europe. He is the home of the last free-living European bisons.

We had planned 3 days to photograph this bison, but we did not have much hope of actually photographing the shy animals. The excursion to the virgin forest part of Belarus by bicycle had already not worked, because we were allowed to leave Poland, but 50 meters further at the Belarussian border officials refused our immigration, because we had not managed to get a day visa - so we have not been in the system: entry denied with a nice stamp in the passport. So it went by bike back to Poland. But in the evening on the return surprised us the friendly pension with the message that bison were spotted outside the jungle and within reach. So we went by tractor over and through the muddy and boggy floors (jeans and sweater went afterwards directly into the washing machine ;-)) until we had the now almost unexpected luck in a clearing and a small group of bisons from a safe distance to face ( and in front of the camera).