To Bialowieza we got tempted by ads, which are showing the bison everywhere. We wanted to see these beautiful animals, and it seemed to be the best place to view them in Bison Show Reserve.
We needed to turn off the main road leading to the Bialowieza. In the forest we could see huge arrows that are providing the route to huge parking lot. We needed to leave the car there. It was so crowded that some cars even lined up along the forest. Amazingly, under the fence was an empty parking area partially occupied by vendors. You can buy souvenirs of 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 deer greeted us, then we passed the elk and reach the fence with Zubron (hybrids of bison and cow). It’s such a half bison, half a cow.
Moving forward, it’s hot. We go to the footbridge leading to the center of the runway. It was empty, there is 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 fence, where the bison should have been inside. And there was 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 very hot day so the animals were tired of the heat.
We went back to the exit, passing a wolf and a fallow deer. By the way we pass the fence with lots of broken trees (this is probably the result of the recent storms).
A bison? Well, we have to settle for artificial bison set in front of a shop in Bialowieza. The real ones were too far away to take a picture.
Unfortunately the name of Bison Exhibition Reserve commonly used in commercials looks beautiful, in fact, this zoo — you have to be lucky to see bison up close.
Take a look also our video from visit to the Reserve: