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The clouds in the clear blue sky seem to skirt the rolling hills in Poland’s Masuria province as we paddle along a stream so clear that the fish can be seen darting amid a carpet of underwater plants.
Masuria is a haven for tourists seeking unspoilt nature, offering boating opportunities on hundreds of lakes and hiking trails passing through forests, remote villages and rolling hills.
The region, a former part of eastern Prussia which fell to Poland after World War II, is only just beginning to cater to a wider cross-section of visitors.
After the fall of communism it was mostly known as destination for elderly German “nostalgia tourists” seeking out places of childhood memory.
However, it has also become a hot tip for boating enthusiasts, hikers, cyclists and bird watchers from the Middle East.
Most visitors to Masuria start their tour from the town of Mikolajki, situated roughly halfway between the capital Warsaw and the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk. Mikolajki, the former German town of Nikolaiken, boasts a beautifully restored city centre with numerous cafes and restaurants lining the waterfront of the Yezioro Sniardvy lake. Yachts including a boatsman familiar with the waters can be hired for a moderate price.
From Mikolajki a scenic tree-lined route passes the Yezioro Niegocin lake on the right side of the road and leads northeast through Gizycko to the Puszca Borecka. It is one of the few remaining wilderness areas of Europe and recently has also become home to the rare wisent, or bison which has been resettled in the area as part of a breeding scheme.
With three lakes in the centre the Puszca Borecka is a varied landscape of riverlets, marshland, dense deciduous forest and open heath measuring some 25,000 hectares. One of the few remaining wilderness areas in Europe it gives some idea of what the central European plain looked like centuries ago.
In the centre of the nature park is the idyllic village of Czervony Dvor where a visitors’ centre provides helpful information on hiking and bicycle trails. With only a few isolated dirt roads in the area there is little danger that it will be spoiled by mass tourism.
For canoeing and kayaking the village of Krutyn, some 20km southwest of Mikolajki, is the place to go. The Krutinnen river offers some of the most varied riverside scenery of Masuria. We paddle past ancient timber-frame farmhouses, unspoilt reed banks and hundreds of blooming white lake roses. Then we are met by the solitude of forest with the treetops forming a tunnel from either side.
Suddenly the countryside opens up to green meadows and half a dozen storks, gracefully circling above. Most of the barns and farmhouses here have a stork nest and we observe two adult storks feeding a crowded nest of three chicks.
Masuria offers almost ideal conditions for the endangered species. The meadows and fields have a plentiful supply of insects, rodents and reptiles on which the birds feed. The province prides itself to being home to almost a quarter of the estimated 200,000 white storks counted by nature organisations in Europe for the period 2005/2006.
The locals have for centuries revered the bird which according to local myth brings good luck to the house where it build its nest.
As we come closer to the village of Ukta we spot an angler with a stork only a metre beside him – a picture postcard scene like so much of Masuria.
