The Sierakowski Landscape Park is also known as the Land of 100 Lakes. The name is not an exaggeration, as there is even more than a hundred lakes around!
This landscape was shaped by a glacier during the last glaciation, and its most spectacular element are the dunes, created by the sand carried by the melting glacier and later wind activities. The dunes are 20-30 meters high on average, but the highest one is nearly 90 meters. In the southern part of the park, there are many moraine hills covered by deciduous forests, river valleys and deep post-glacial sills filled with picturesque lakes. The largest of those lakes is Lake Chrzypskie, but it is Lake Śremskie that enjoys the greatest popularity, as it is the deepest in the park, and third deepest in Wielkopolska and is the region’s only cryptodepression (its deepest spot is 45 meters and is 6 meters below sea level).
Wolves are among the most frequent residents of the park. Some of the more precious bird species in the area are the white-tailed eagle and the kingfisher, and the star among the insects is undoubtedly the “kudłatka” (Crunoecia irrorata), a species of caddisfly, the only one in Poland under species protection. Lake Mnich is also worth visiting – in 2011, a locality of the large white-faced darter, a dragonfly, was discovered on its shores. The calciphile moss grows here, hence the reserve’s name -“Mszar nad jeziorem Mnich” (the moss at Lake Mnich).
There are six designated educational paths in the park. Six hiking, cycling, equestrian and water trails runs through the park with the joint length of over one thousand kilometers. The Natural Education Center in Chalin operates very strongly and also constitutes the beginning of some certified nordic walking trails.
Text: Jacek Y. Łuczak
Translation: Kaja Kurczewska