WEH Kanton

WEH Kanton © 2008
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:24:36 +0800
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Słowiński Park Narodoowy

S?owi?ski National Park

Established in 1967, the Park covers 18,200 hectares located in the central part of the Polish coast. Because of its unique landscapes, in 1977 it was put on the UNESCO list of World Biosphere Reserves. It encompasses 32 km of coastline and owes its beauty to the last glaciation, which carved out the hills, and the sea currents that for thousands of years have been depositing sand and creating the dunes, bars, and coastal lakes.
Dunes cover almost the entire width of the 20 km-long Leba Spit. The central 5 km stretch of the spit, about 1 km wide, has shifting dunes. The wind, said to blow here for 360 days a year, ripples the dune surface, creating elongated waves. As a result, the dunes take on fantastic shapes: parabolic dykes, burial mounds, hills, troughs ,and basins which look like Saharan landscapes. The dunes in the Słowiński National Park make up the biggest area of moving sand in Central Europe and one of the biggest on the whole continent.

Another characteristic element of the landscape of the Słowiński National Park are the vast, shallow coastal lakes, including the enormous Łebsko (about 7000 ha) and Gardno (almost 2400 ha). These were once sea bays, gradually cut off from the Baltic by sand bars. The Park is home to some 800 species of flowers, including - the most beautiful of all - orchids. The trees are mainly pines, birches and alders, but you can also come across dwarf mountain pines, introduced by man in the early 20th century to afforest the shifting dunes. Exceptionally well represented are the birds - there are nearly 260 species. As you would expect, most of them are water and mud birds like grebes, cormorants, gulls, terns, swans, cranes, and black storks; you may also spot an occasional white-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, goshawk, or eagle owl. The lakes are fished for pike, pike perch, roach, salmon, and flounder.