Winter Bison Safari & Wolf Tracking, Feb 2017
Tour Leader: Andrzej Petryna (Andy)
Participants: Neil & Natalie, Janusz & Manuela, Terence & Chloe, Alex
Text by Andrzej Petryna & Łukasz Mazurek
Photos by Andrzej Petryna
We had started our mid-February trip with a mild winter weather (-4°C) in Warsaw, but we arrived at Białowieża in freezing -12°C, outside our guesthouse, that is :) Before sitting down to a traditional Polish dinner we had a chance to take a short walk in an inviting, full Moon winter scenery.
Our first day in the Białowieża Forest was very succesfull – after we saw 6 Bison and other 3 old Bison bulls in the northern part of the Białowieża Forest, we found a carcass of an old stag of Red Deer killed by a pack of Wolves last night. We found plenty of Wolf footprints around, as well as numerous Fox, Raccoon Dog and Weasel tracks around, and some birds having their dinner as well (Raven and Magpie).
We finished this day with a beautiful view of 4 Bison bulls feeding themselves near the village at Sunset.
On the next day we re-visited the place of Wolf kill. We found many fresh Wolf footprints on our path and the Red Deer body turned around, but still a lot of food left for the next night. We have also found a Fox den with remnants of Hare fur nearby.
Later this day we also entered the Strict Reserve of the National Park to see the most natural part of the Białowieża Forest, which is also a good place to spot some rare Woodpeckers. This time we saw White-backed and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, but we also found more fresh Red Deer and Wolf tracks in different parts of the Reserve.
We finished our trip with a traditional Polish-Jewish lunch and a short walk around the Old Town in Warsaw, to see a little bit more than the forest.
Please enjoy a few more photographs from the trip below (click on thumbnails to enlarge).
