European bison show reserve

We came to Bialowieza tempted by ads that show bison everywhere. We wanted to see these beautiful animals, and it seemed there could be no better place to see them than the Bison Show Reserve.

We needed to turn off the main road leading to Bialowieza. In the forest we could see huge arrows that provide the route to a huge parking lot. We needed to leave the car there. It was so crowded  that some cars even lined up along the forest. Surprisingly, right by the fence there was an empty parking area partially occupied by vendors. You can buy souvenirs from the Bialowieza National Park, as well as toys and honey from natural apiaries.

We needed to walk along the fence to access the entry to the Reserve. It is another place that honors the Large Family Card. It’s cool to have some little discount on ticket price. Inside we found that it was quite a large area, like a zoo.

At the start of our walk a fallow deer greeted us, then we passed the elk and reached the fence with Zubron (hybrids of bison and cow). It's half bison, half cow.

We moved on; it was hot. We walked onto the footbridge leading to the middle of the enclosure. It was empty, with no animals in sight. But where were those bison?

Continuing on our way, we inadvertently startled the deer, which ran off to their area. Moving forward …

Finally we found the enclosure where the bison should have been. And there were literally 6 of them, far away from the fence, in the middle of the field. They were so far away that you couldn't even take a photo of them.

We expected there would be more of them. Well, maybe we were not lucky. In fact, we visited them on a very hot day so the animals were tired of the heat.

Fun fact: the last wild bison in the Bialowieza Forest was killed in 1919. Ten years later, in 1929, an enclosure was set up in Bialowieza and the first bison from breeding centres were brought here. In 1952 the first two bison from the Bialowieza reserves were released into the wild.

We went back to the exit, passing a wolf and a fallow deer. On the way we passed the fence with lots of broken trees (this is probably the result of the recent storms).

And the bison? Well, we had to settle for the artificial bison standing in front of a shop in Bialowieza. The real ones were too far away to take a picture.

Unfortunately, the name Bison Show Reserve looks beautiful in ads, but in fact it is a zoo where you have to be very lucky to see bison up close.

Take a look also at our video from our visit to the Reserve: