In Tumulus and Wilderness
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The area of one of the former cemeteries in the Białowieża Primaeval Forest. Photo by Jędrzej Wojnar
Fiction, Nature

In Tumulus and Wilderness

The Burial Mounds of Białowieża
Jędrzej Wojnar
Reading
time 5 minutes

At the start, there is chaos. The horizon cuts off at a distance of 20 to 30 metres. Your vision wallows in a wall of twigs, leaves, trunks, bushes, broken branches and fallen trees. Hundreds of mosquitoes and botflies swarm about.

There’s nothing to fix your gaze on; you need but a moment to lose your direction. In spite of the sunny day, twilight is king in the Primaeval Forest, as the leaves of the trees block the light. No, not trees, rather giants, soaring oaks the trunks of which even three people wouldn’t be able to embrace. It isn’t until a few minutes pass that the solemn gravity of this place hits your consciousness.

The Białowieża Primaeval Forest requires something more than just reason and flawed human logic. You need to make a substantial effort to fully understand it. Otherwise, all you’ll see is a tangle of trunks and branches, an explosion of greenery and unbridled vegetation. The Primaeval Forest requires awareness and conscious

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All the Colours of Biebrza
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Photo by Michał Kość / AGENCJA WSCHÓD
Nature

All the Colours of Biebrza

A National Park on Fire
Jędrzej Wojnar

Reeds, tall thick grass, waterlogged alder trees, and a glistening water surface. The colours of Biebrza change with the seasons. In the spring, the river overflows its banks and the entire valley glistens like silver. In the summer, the lush green dominates the landscape. In the autumn, yellowed reeds and meadows reign supreme. In the winter, the snow covers the Biebrza Valley, transforming it into a boundless, immaculately white plain.

I haven’t seen it white for a long while.

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