Poland wildlife holiday, birds & mammals
Highlights
Bialowieza Forest | bison safari | spot red deer, wolves and lynx | walks with expert nature guide | varied birdlife | Biebrza Marshes | elk safari | Red Bog Reserve | stay in friendly guesthouses | Warsaw Old TownDescription of Poland wildlife holiday, birds & mammals
At any time of the year, this Poland wildlife holiday will introduce you to the country’s exceptional birds and mammals. Visit two of Poland’s natural treasures, the primeval Bialowieza Forest and the Biebrza Marshes to see European Bison, elk (moose) and beavers. In the winter, track wolves through the snow and throughout the year see rare birdlife. This holiday is also the chance to get close to traditional Eastern Poland, with a local guide, and to explore Warsaw with its impressive Old Town. Tuck into hearty Polish breakfasts, tasty packed lunches and generous three course dinners and stay in family owned guesthouses. You’ll need a basic level of fitness to enjoy this tour, with two or three walks each day, totalling between 2-12km.Poland’s natural highlights vary throughout the year, with January and February the best times to see large mammals including bison and elk, and also beaver, otter and red fox. Now is the time to track wolves through the snowy landscape, too, and you may catch sight of white-tailed eagles, hawfinches and great grey shrike. In spring, April to May, the meadows are flooded and a huge array of waterbirds are visible, including early migrants such as the collared flycatcher and marsh. There are no mozzies during this time – another bonus! In high summer, from July to August, you’ll see wonderful wildflowers, butterflies and dragonflies. This is the start of the bison mating season and you can see large herds in the glades. This is also a great time for spotting beavers during a boat cruise. Autumn is the time to see red deer and elk wearing impressive antlers and rutting, as the leaves turn slowly from green to gold.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.com
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Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
We are a small but growing wildlife watching tour company, made up of several experienced wildlife local guides, fanatic nature lovers, keen photographers and birders. Many are academics, others work in National Parks or nature conservancy NGO’s. All of us share one thing – a great passion and care for wildlife. This way, on our tours we visit the best places and sites for wildlife that most other tours never reach.For the last 10 years we have worked hard to show European Bison, Elk (Moose), Wolves, Lynx, Beavers, Otters and plenty of rare birds up close in their natural habitat with minimum disturbance. We teach our guests how to do this in the most nature-respectable way. We cooperate with local National Parks, University and a Mammal Research Institute, reporting observations of Wolves, Lynx, Elks and other wildlife of a particular interest at a given time. Moreover, many of our guides actively take part in many current bird surveys and research studies.
This tour visits two of Poland’s most valuable National Parks - Bialowieza Forest and Biebrza Marshes. Apart from tracking and watching wildlife, as usual on our tours we visit a tremendous variety of different habitats and our guides focus on the whole forest and marshland ecosystems, explaining their complexity and emphasising the relations among their components. We believe this is the best approach to spread knowledge and help saving the endangered nature of Eastern Europe and in the long run – our planet.
Our groups are small, 5 – 11 participants, thus ensuring a great atmosphere and a more intimate contact with nature.
The guesthouses we use recycle their rubbish and use renewable energy sources to supplement - local woodfuel and solar panels. Local wood has always been the most important energy source in these areas while solar panels now become increasingly popular, being subsidised by the EU projects and local governments.
We encourage travellers to bring their own reusable water bottles and flasks for hot drinks out in the wild. We also inform everyone on our policy of minimising water use and production of litter.
The Impacts of this Trip
This tour is led by a local tour leader who is experienced, environmentally trained and socially aware (and funny :). Furthermore, we will be additionally accompanied by one or two local guides from local communities for certain trips: a local scientist or a researcher for trips in the Nature Reserves, a local farmer for a boat trip.
Our guides will explain the local history, culture, customs of the places you visit and will help you understand the historical ethnic minorities that contribute to the specificity of eastern Poland. Of course visiting local nature protection sites is an important part of all our tours and our guides explain the details of nature protection problems as well as conflicts and relations between people and nature in certain areas. We work with several local guides, actively seek for new, dedicated people and educate them about our eco-tourism policy.
During this tour, we stay at small, wooden family run guesthouses and agro-tourist farms where the hosts are nature friendly and engaged and the atmosphere is always very cosy. They all use not only local products (including wild mushrooms and berries) but often grow their own food, too. This ensures local job opportunities in rural areas and provides you with a much more authentic experience of eastern Poland. Many of our previous customers have reported they had no idea Polish food was so good.
Moreover, we will visit one or two local farms for lunch (locally produced) or just hot drinks and wildlife viewing. We make sure all these local farmers are paid fairly for their service, even if we only use their grounds for wildlife watching. Visiting local communities is an important part of all our tours, we encourage you to chat to locals and buy their local produce, souvenirs etc.
Occasionally, we also hire local minibuses from local companies that employ local bus drivers - and one of the bus drivers, having been on a few of our tours, has now bought himself a pair of binoculars and become an active birdwatcher!
We are a small but growing wildlife watching tour company, made up of several experienced wildlife local guides, fanatic nature lovers, keen photographers and birders. Many are academics, others work in National Parks or nature conservancy NGO’s. All of us share one thing – a great passion and care for wildlife. This way, on our tours we visit the best places and sites for wildlife that most other tours never reach.For the last 10 years we have worked hard to show European Bison, Elk (Moose), Wolves, Lynx, Beavers, Otters and plenty of rare birds up close in their natural habitat with minimum disturbance. We teach our guests how to do this in the most nature-respectable way. We cooperate with local National Parks, University and a Mammal Research Institute, reporting observations of Wolves, Lynx, Elks and other wildlife of a particular interest at a given time. Moreover, many of our guides actively take part in many current bird surveys and research studies.
This tour visits two of Poland’s most valuable National Parks - Bialowieza Forest and Biebrza Marshes. Apart from tracking and watching wildlife, as usual on our tours we visit a tremendous variety of different habitats and our guides focus on the whole forest and marshland ecosystems, explaining their complexity and emphasising the relations among their components. We believe this is the best approach to spread knowledge and help saving the endangered nature of Eastern Europe and in the long run – our planet.
Our groups are small, 5 – 11 participants, thus ensuring a great atmosphere and a more intimate contact with nature.
The guesthouses we use recycle their rubbish and use renewable energy sources to supplement - local woodfuel and solar panels. Local wood has always been the most important energy source in these areas while solar panels now become increasingly popular, being subsidised by the EU projects and local governments.
We encourage travellers to bring their own reusable water bottles and flasks for hot drinks out in the wild. We also inform everyone on our policy of minimising water use and production of litter.
The Impacts of this Trip
This tour is led by a local tour leader who is experienced, environmentally trained and socially aware (and funny :). Furthermore, we will be additionally accompanied by one or two local guides from local communities for certain trips: a local scientist or a researcher for trips in the Nature Reserves, a local farmer for a boat trip.
Our guides will explain the local history, culture, customs of the places you visit and will help you understand the historical ethnic minorities that contribute to the specificity of eastern Poland. Of course visiting local nature protection sites is an important part of all our tours and our guides explain the details of nature protection problems as well as conflicts and relations between people and nature in certain areas. We work with several local guides, actively seek for new, dedicated people and educate them about our eco-tourism policy.
During this tour, we stay at small, wooden family run guesthouses and agro-tourist farms where the hosts are nature friendly and engaged and the atmosphere is always very cosy. They all use not only local products (including wild mushrooms and berries) but often grow their own food, too. This ensures local job opportunities in rural areas and provides you with a much more authentic experience of eastern Poland. Many of our previous customers have reported they had no idea Polish food was so good.
Moreover, we will visit one or two local farms for lunch (locally produced) or just hot drinks and wildlife viewing. We make sure all these local farmers are paid fairly for their service, even if we only use their grounds for wildlife watching. Visiting local communities is an important part of all our tours, we encourage you to chat to locals and buy their local produce, souvenirs etc.
Occasionally, we also hire local minibuses from local companies that employ local bus drivers - and one of the bus drivers, having been on a few of our tours, has now bought himself a pair of binoculars and become an active birdwatcher!
3 Reviews of Poland wildlife holiday, birds & mammals
Reviewed on 14 May 2019 by Anna Denise Bolks
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Realising how silent and still the forest can be at night. The stillness, combined with the darkness and cold of the night made an impresion on me when we were waiting after dusk for badgers to appear from their burrows.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Heed the packing list instructions, they were helpful, but add an eye mask for those who wake up with the sun, it may be an early wake up call in spring and summer :-)
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I believe so, especially the accommodation in the biebrza marshes. Accommodation and food provision at the HQ of the primeval forest national park was less conscious about environmental impact. I hope that investment in Wild Poland does contribute to overall conservation, considering our guide's passion for it i would say yes.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Top rating. I loved the focus on learning about different habitats and talking about the history of the land, its people and wildlife. It was not just spotting wildlife and aiming for a tick list.
Reviewed on 20 Jun 2019 by Roy Cyster
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Mammal sightings: bison, elk and beaver.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take plenty of insect repellent. The guide thought that MUGGA was the most effective. Also, a tick remover is essential for those ubiquitous ticks.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Staying at local lodges benefits local people. Also, we followed the instructions of the guides when visiting the Forest.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We enjoyed our trip as local people were welcoming and the guide, Andrzej, was most knowledgeable and driver, Lukaz, competent and safe. The trip, as advertised, went like clockwork and it is our fault for not reading the holiday information more closely as it's a birders' holiday rather than a focus on mammals. It would helpful if the operator could give some guidance on tipping.
Reviewed on 08 Aug 2018 by Richard Cachia Zammit
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Early morning when we saw an Elk very close by. The whole ambience including the mist made the sighting a memorable one.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared to wake up very early in the morning and stay late at night if you want to see certain species such as the bison and the elk. Wild animals are unpredictable and we were lucky to see the elk the first morning we started to look for them whilst it took us 3 days to finally see the bison.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
To enter certain areas of the parks, one has to pay and also have a special guide, so definitely this helps conservation of the area. The fact that groups are small also reduces the impact on the environment and the places where we stayed all serve local products.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
If I had to rate our holiday on the basis of how professional our guide was, I would definitely give full marks. I am quite a keen birdwatching and has been so for more than 40 years and just the same, I learned a lot from our guide Zuzanna, who is only in her 20s but knows a lot about birds and nature in general. Same thing goes for our driver who was always careful when driving and helped in everyway possible. The only problem was that in both places we stayed, there was no air conditioning and one night, we didn't sleep well because of the heat and considering that we had to wake up early and sleep late, we badly needed to sleep well. Because of this I would rate our holiday 4/5
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