Białowieża Forest

Białowieża Forest; ; .}} is a large forest complex and World Heritage Area straddling the border between Poland and Belarus. It is one of the last and the largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more than 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal.

The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee, through its decision of June 2014, approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Fowwrest, Belarus, Poland", which became "Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland". It straddles the border between Podlachia historical region in Poland and the Brest and Grodno Oblasts in Belarus, and is southeast of Białystok, Poland and north of Brest, Belarus. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers a total area of . Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.

UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve as ' in 1976, and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve as ' in 1993. In 2025, the Belarusian part spanned , subdivided into property and buffer zones. Provided by Wikipedia