@DalejNieIde … boutique eco-house in  Buda Ruska, Poland, is our approach to Linking Tourism & Conservation. It is based on eco-scaping rules in Buda Ruska on Czarna Hańcza river, in the pure, natural environment of the Suwałki region and in the buffer zone of Wigry National Park. We offer a 4-5 person small house with a living room, two bedrooms, a comfortable bathroom, a terrace and a fireplace.

[metaslider id=8156]Our house is located in the buffer zone of the Wigry National Park close to the Czarna Hancza – the longest river of the Suwalki Land (142 km) in Buda Ruska village. The village was founded by Old-Ritualist (Old-Orthodoxy). You may still found there examples of Old-Ritualists’ houses or visit foto exhibition showing their life (Chlewogaleria). The Hancza River flows through the Hancza and Wigry Lakes and, in its lower reaches, joins the Augustów Canal system. The section beyond Lake Wigry makes an attractive kayaking route. As the Czarna Hańcza leaves Lake Wigry it meanders lazily through reeds and marshes. At places, the river creates wide marshy backwaters which provide habitat for waterfowl – numerous mallards and herons. In the village of Wysoki
Most and then Buda Ruska the river clearly changes its character. The current gets significantly faster, the riverbed splits into many branches creating islands which get overgrown.  Huge spruces, alders, and birches grow densely on the river banks. They frequently get knocked down by strong winds and beavers thus forming blocks. The river bottom thrives with a variety of water plants, such as arrowheads, club-rushes, and nuphars. The river provides habitat for common kingfishers, otters, muskrats, and beavers. The common goldeneye nests in riverside forests. There are 17 fish species living in the waters of Czarna Hańcza, 4 of which (the Eurasian minnow, spined loach, bitterling) are under protection. The trout are present in the swift-flowing river sections. If you embark on a kayaking trip on the Czarna Hańcza, remember to pay the entrance fee once in the territory of the Wigry National Park, i.e. the river section between the villages of Czerwony Folwark and Studziany Las and on the Wigry Lake.
From Buda Ruska, you may walk to nearby located lakes. It takes a couple of minutes to get to the Lake Wigry by car. The landscape of the Wigry National Park was shaped during the Baltic Glaciation period. Numerous lakes and small water basins are remnants of the glaciation periods. They have various shapes, areas, and depth. The Park is a site of 42 lakes, the largest being Wigry Lake of 2,187 ha of an area and up to 73 m in depth. It occupies the central part of the Park. Lakes represent different limnological types. Particularly interesting are small dystrophic lakes situated within the forests, surrounded by peat moss communities, called “suchary”. The main river of the Park is the Czarna Hancza. Wigry National Park is an area of international importance for nature conservation, as Ramsar Convention site, and Natura 2000 European network area.
Driving to the North from the city of Suwalki you may visit Suwalki Landscape Park which protects one of the most beautiful corners of northeast Poland, not without reason called by tourists “local Switzerland”. Indeed, its natural value and spectacular landscape make this region exceptionally idyllic and romantic. The topographically diversified lie of the land was formed – as well as the rest of Suwałki Lakeland – by the last Baltic glaciation. Its action and the recession of the melting continental glacier shaped the Park’s exceptionally varied configuration. Its denivelations, reaching more than 100 meters, form high hills, picturesque lake basins, flowery valleys cut by numerous streams and deep river troughs especially of the Czarna Hańcza River. It crosses the deepest lake in Poland and in European Lowland, that is Lake Hańcza which is 108,5 m deep. It is the biggest water body in the Park. Another geological phenomenon of this area is the so-called Szeszupa Hollow. The Szeszupa River cuts the Park from the west to east. It creates an enormous, melt-out basin with a lot of moraine and kame hills surrounding charming lakes such as Jaczno, Kojle, Perty, and Szurpiły. Cisowa Mountain near Gulbieniszki is a wonderful landscape point. One can admire the superb scenery of almost all the Park from here. Also, Zamkowa Mountain, the Jatzvingian old rampart, offers spectacular views. It is also the biggest object of archeological research in Suwałki Region. In Suwałki Landscape Park there are lots of unique landforms. These are the famous “turtulski esker”, “the hanging valley”, “the hanging peat bogs”, and three protected reserves of boulders. Other places worth seeing are the Orthodox church in Wodziłki, the mill in Turtul (the seat of the Park’s administration), the ruins of the manor in Stara Hańcza, and the decaying mansion with farm buildings in Kleszczówek. As all tourist trails, both hiking and biking, are well marked it is easy and pleasant to visit the Park.

More information can be found on SLOWHOOP WEB PAGE