‘Zabory Land’ was once the term used to refer to the areas located beyond the forests (“za borami”) in relation to the centres of church and secular authorities, and its capital is still Brusy. It is here that in 1990, the Zaborski Landscape Park was created.
The Zaborski Landscape Park covers a large area in the north-western part of the Tuchola Forest. The landscape is dominated by a sandy outwash plains called the ‘Great Outwash Plain of the Brda’. The Brda has been the main water artery of the Tuchola Forest since the melting of the continental ice sheet which had shaped the current lie of the land within Zabory Land. Today the Brda is a route travelled by thousands of canoeists each year.
The Brda and its numerous tributaries: the Chocina, the Zbrzyca, the Młosina and the Kłonecznica, forms in the area of the Zabory Landscape Park, a network of attractive and varied canoeing routes. For beginner canoeists, the Brda tends to be benign, flowing through a series of large ribbon lakes such as Charzykowskie, Karsińskie, Witoczno, Łąckie and Dybrzk. Equally attractive is the canoe route of the Zbrzyca, which from Lake Dywańskie, leads tourists amid forests and meadows through eleven charming lakes.
The Zaborski Landscape Park features a total of 48 lakes, including the protected and very clean lobelia and charophyceae lakes. These are generally small water bodies located inside forests, which can be accessed thanks to the dense network of hiking, cycling, and nature trails.
The large ribbon lakes found within this park provide many sailing opportunities. Indeed, Charzykowy and Lake Charzykowskie are the birthplace of inland sailing in Poland, and it is here where the Sailing Club ‘Chojnice’ – has operated since 1922. Canoeing trips, sailing, hiking and cycling provide the enthusiast with a multitude of leisure and aesthetic impressions, especially for people who crave beautiful natural landscapes featuring river valleys, pristine lakes and a mosaic of forests, meadows and fields. The Zabory Land is an area still only slightly affected by man, therefore it is a dreamland for eco-tourists.
The park is dominated by forests, the most common trees being pines. These forests form a protective umbrella for numerous unsullied lakes and peat bogs, while also providing shelter for their wild inhabitants. The Park’s symbol is the eagle owl – the largest European forest owl, which requires peace and quiet, and has had its refuges here for years. The Tuchola Forest, including the Zaborski Landscape Park, is valued by naturalists in Poland and abroad.
In 1996, in the southern part of the Zaborski Landscape Park, in the area of the Seven Lakes’ Stream (Struga Siedmiu Jezior), a National Park was established. In June 2010, the International Coordinating Council of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme decided to include the Tuchola Forest, within the area of the Zaborski Landscape Park, in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It is one of ten, and also the largest Biosphere Reserve in Poland.
Aside from its natural beauty, the Park also has a rich cultural heritage – the remains of Kashubia’s wooden architecture in Wysoka Zaborska, the 17th-Century wooden church in Leśno, the stone circles and burial mounds in Leśno, and also the historic seed husking mill built in 1913, in Klosnowo.
Please feel invited to take advantage of the numerous hiking, cycling, and canoeing trails leading to the most attractive spots in the Zaborski Landscape Park.
