Tatra National Park (Walk Across Clear Ice), Northern Slovakia, Poland

Tatra National Park is a National Park located in the Tatra Mountains in Tatra County, in the Lesser Poland Voivode ship Małopolska region, in central-southern Poland bordering on northern Slovakia. The Park has its headquarters in the town of Zakopane. There is a similar national park in the adjoining part of Slovakia, also called the Tatra National Park Tatranský národný park.

 

The first calls for protection of the Tatras came at the end of the 19th century. In 1925 the first efforts to create a national park, in cooperation with Slovakia, took place. Formally the park was created in 1937, on an area that belonged to the state forests authority. In 1947, a separate administrative unit, Tatra Park, was created.

In 1954, by decision of the Polish Government, Tatra National Park was created. It was established originally with an area of 215.56 km2 (83.23 sq mi), but it is currently slightly smaller, at 211.64 km2 (81.71 sq mi). Of this, 151.91 km2 (58.65 sq mi) is forest and the remainder mainly meadows. Strictly protected zones account for 115.14 km2 (44.46 sq mi), of which 61.49 km2 (23.74 sq mi) are forest ecosystems. In 1992, the Polish and Slovakian national parks in the Tatras were jointly designated a trans-boundary biosphere reserve by UNESCO, under its Man and the Biosphere Programme.

walk on water sounds like the stuff of miracles, but there’s nothing supernatural at work in the clip above. Watch as two hikers in Slovakia’s High Tatra Mountains walk across a lake that’s frozen so clearly, they look to be walking on water.

 

The National Park covers one of the two Alpine mountain ranges in Poland. The Polish Tatra range, which is a part of the Western Carpathian Mountains, is divided into two sections: the High Tatras and the Western Tatras. The landscape consists of sharp-edged peaks and hollows with numerous rock formations. The highest peak in Poland, Rysy (2,499 meters (8,199 ft) is located here.

There are around 650 caves in the park, of which the Wielka Sniezna cave system is the longest (18 kilometers (11 mi)), and the deepest (maximum depth 814 meters (2,671 ft)). Six caves of this system are open to public. 

There are several streams, the longest stream reaching 20 kilometers (12 mi). Waterfalls, such as Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza are popular with tourists. The highest waterfall is Wielka Siklawa at 70 meters (230 ft)). The park has over 30 mountain lakes, called staw (Polish: pond). These water bodies are an important part of the High Tatra landscape. The largest lakes are: Morskie Oko with an area of 349,000 m² and maximum depth of 50.8 metres (167 ft)); and Wielki Staw with an area of 344,000 m² and maximum depth of 79.3 metres (260 ft).

 

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