Poloniny National Park

The easternmost national park Poloniny, which was added to the network of Slovak national parks in 1997, is located in the Bukovské vrchy Mountains.

Najvyšší vrch, Kremenec (1 210 m n. m.), spája slovenskú, poľskú a ukrajinskú hranicu a bezprostredne susedí s poľským Bieszczadskim Parkom Narodowym a ukrajinským Užanskym nacionaľnym pryrodnym parkom. Pomenovanie Poloniny pochádza od jedinečných horských hrebeňových lúk nachádzajúcich sa nad úrovňou lesa, v týchto končinách nazývaných poloniny.

V roku 1993 bol NP Poloniny organizáciou UNESCO Retrieved from to the network of international biosphere reserves. In June 2007, the Stužica, Havešová and Rožok forests in the Bukovské vrchy Mountains, together with the Vihorlat Forest in the Vihorlat Mountains in the Vihorlat Protected Landscape Area and the forests in Ukraine, were also added to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List.

Almost 80 % of the area of the Poloniny National Park consists of forests. The typical landscape features rounded ridges and waterlogged valleys. Only in places sharp rocky hills rise to the surface.

The uniqueness of the territory lies in the occurrence of the largest complexes of native beech-fir forests in Europe, which in some places go up to forests, a to v mimoriadnej koncentrácii vzácnych a ohrozených druhov rastlín a živočíchov.

The territory of Poloniny is characterized by the occurrence of of the great beasts - brown bear, wolf, lynx and wild cat. There are also mountain bison, which occurs in the wild in Slovakia only in this national park.

The main starting point for a visit to the Poloniny Mountains is the village of Nová Sedlica. Poloniny are also known as Dark Sky Park, for which they were declared on the occasion of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010 as the first dark sky area in Slovakia.

The area is excellent visibility of the Milky Way and several thousand stars can be seen without binoculars (only 200 in towns and 20 in cities). The Dark Sky Park, in addition to protecting the night-time environment, also provides an information tourism programme.

You can also try sky watching in Astronomical Observatory at Kolonický sedlo, which is a remote professional workplace of the Vihorlat Observatory in Humenne. It is located in an area with a very low level of light pollution.

K jeho astronomickým prístrojom patrí Vihorlatský národný teleskop (VNT), druhý najväčší ďalekohľad na Slovensku, s priemerom hlavného zrkadla 1 meter. V areáli sa nachádza i planetárium, ktoré bolo postavené v rámci projektu Karpatské nebo.

Observations, as well as other events for schools and the public, take place at the observatory at order.

Traditional wooden temples are also a unique feature of the Poloniny Mountains. They are interesting not only for their architecture, but also for their richly decorated interior.

The national park is open all year round. In summer it attracts mainly hikers and cyclists, in winter cross-country skiers and ski mountaineers.

Title photo: NP Poloniny, source OOCR Horný Zemplín