It is one of Europe’s largest forest complexes, ranked second on the continent in various lists. It occupies the southern part of Masuria, hiding numerous lakes. The area of the entire forest is about 100,000 hectares.
The Piska Forest is covered with pine, spruce trees with a small admixture of birch.
The largest trees reach a height of 40 meters and an age of 200 years. Wild boars, beavers, storks, grouse, deer, rosters, elk, lynx, roe deer, hares and cranes live here.
The wilderness area has been one of the most inaccessible corners of the region for centuries. The area was once home to Masurians – residents of German East Prussia who spoke Polish and were Evangelicals. After the war, many of the local villages were irretrievably abandoned, and the only traces of their existence became cemeteries overgrown by the forest.
The most valuable nature reserve of the Piska Forest is located on Łuknajno Lake.
This inconspicuous lake, surrounded by extensive rushes, houses one of the largest breeding sites of the white swan in the world, listed as a UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve and protected under the Ramsar Convention.
The Piska Forest is crossed by the Krutynia River, on which canoeing trips are organized. Also located in the middle of the forest is Nidzkie Lake – one of the least altered by human activity bodies of water in the Land of the Great Masurian Lakes. On the shores of this vast lake, shaped like a curved trough, there are numerous camping spots and small campsites.
