Drawa National Park — a lowland river that behaves like a mountain stream

A river, not a summit

The park was established in 1990 across just under 87 km², and later enlargements brought it to over 113 km². Its shape follows the water: the backbone is formed by the valleys of the Drawa and the Płociczna, incised into a sandy plain. The administration sits in the small town of Drawno, and the park straddles the meeting point of three voivodeships — West Pomeranian, Lubusz and Greater Poland.

This is one of very few Polish national parks where the main attraction is neither a peak nor a monument, but a current. The Drawa runs through a deep, winding trough with steep sides, in places over gravel beds, at a speed nobody expects in lowland country. Naturalists describe it as a river with upland character, and that is not an exaggeration: in winter some stretches never freeze, simply because the water does not slow down.

Twelve separate areas totalling nearly 1,400 hectares are under strict protection and left entirely to natural processes. Trees fall and stay where they land, the river undercuts its banks and shifts sand downstream, peat bogs grow at their own pace. The rest of the park is open to visitors, though movement is confined to marked paths rather than left to improvisation.

Twenty lakes, and one that stands apart

There are twenty lakes inside the park, and water covers roughly a tenth of its area. They were formed in the same era as the river valley: the ice sheet left behind troughs, hollows and blocks of dead ice that melted out only after it retreated. Among the largest are Ostrowieckie and Ostrowite, both ringed by forest along almost their entire shore.

The oddity among them is Lake Czarne, where the layers of water barely mix at all. Its deeper parts stay cut off from the surface, and from oxygen, throughout the year — only a handful of such lakes exist in Poland. For researchers that makes it valuable, because the undisturbed sediment on the bottom preserves a record of century after century.

Several of the lakes are strikingly clear and low in nutrients, with distinctive stonewort meadows on the bed. Water like this responds to every change in the catchment: fertiliser running off one field, or sewage from a single farm, is enough to turn a transparent lake durably green. That is why most shorelines remain undeveloped and swimming is permitted only at a few designated spots.

Pine, beech and four-century oaks

Most of the park is covered by pine forest growing on poor sandy soils, the familiar landscape of this part of Pomerania. On the richer valley slopes and around the lakes, however, stand Pomeranian beechwoods: tall, shaded, with an almost bare forest floor and smooth grey trunks arranged like columns.

The oldest trees here are oaks and beeches estimated at 300 to 400 years. They stand alone or in small clusters, usually in places where logging was once awkward — above a steep drop, on a peninsula, in a swamp. In total some 900 species of vascular plants have been recorded in the park, with mosses, lichens and fungi on top of that.

The third kind of landscape is peat bog filling hollows with no outflow. These are crossed on boardwalks only, because the peat layer can be thin and there is water underneath. Carnivorous plants and rare orchids grow there, and they tolerate neither drying out nor being trampled — the two things that reach such places fastest.

Who lives here

• Otter — the park's emblem, dependent on clean water and undercut banks; you are far more likely to find its tracks and leftovers on the bank than the animal itself.
• Beaver — rebuilds the smaller watercourses to its own design, and its dams and flooded woodland show up almost anywhere the current eases.
• Birds — close to 130 breeding species, among them the white-tailed eagle, which needs old trees by the water, and the kingfisher, which digs its burrow into a vertical bank.
• Mammals — around fifty species; alongside red deer, roe deer and wild boar there are wolves, and the occasional moose wanders through.
• Fish — several dozen species, from common ones to those requiring cold, well-oxygenated water; they are the reason the Drawa has its own reputation among anglers.

Getting there and getting around

• By car — the easiest access points are near Drawno and Stare Osieczno; inside the park you may only leave a vehicle in designated car parks.
• By train and bus — rail reaches Kalisz Pomorski and Choszczno, after which you depend on buses or a bicycle; arriving without a car needs planning in advance.
• By kayak — paddling the Drawa is the most natural way to see the park; the section inside its boundaries has its own rules, including fixed camping spots and seasonal closures of particular stretches.
• By bicycle — flat, but sandy; tyres wider than a road bike's will save a great deal of frustration.

Practical advice

The Drawa does not forgive overconfidence. The current is brisk, and submerged trunks and branches become invisible when the water is high — those, not the current, are what capsize boats. Start early, leave a margin for portages, and keep your luggage in dry bags even if the forecast is cloudless.

Staying on marked paths in the forest is not a formality: large areas are sensitive to trampling, and on the bogs stepping off the boardwalk is simply dangerous. Bicycles and dogs are covered by separate rules worth checking on the park's own site before you travel.

Mosquitoes and blackflies near the water can be punishing from May through August, and long sleeves work better than any repellent. If animals matter to you more than distance covered, set out at first light; during the day the river mostly shows you tracks.

How to get there and practical info

Location

Drawa forest, where the West Pomeranian, Lubusz and Greater Poland voivodeships meet; park headquarters in Drawno

Area

over 113 km², roughly a tenth of it water

Established

1990

Time needed

educational trail — half a day; kayaking the park section — two to three days

Terrain

lowland, but the valley sides are steep, sandy and slippery after rain

Current opening times and tickets

the park's official website

When to go