The jewels of Powidz landscape park, located in the eastern part of Wielkopolska, are its over a dozen deep lakes, each with a diversified and picturesque shoreline. The largest of them are lakes Powidzkie, Niedzięgiel, Ostrowite and Budzisławskie, but the smaller, eutrophic lakes and ponds, surrounded by marshy vegetation are also very charming, as they further diversify the agricultural character of the region.
There is also an abundance of forests here, mostly pines, but the most precious are the large tracts of the so-called thermophilus oak woods near Skorzęcin. The forestmen consider them to be the best formed and preserved in Wielkopolska. Noteworthy are also the fragments of the mesotrophic oak woods and hornbeam forests present in the Skorzęcińskie forests.
In the lakes there are precious underwater charetea meadows, created by various species of algae. For some of those species, the lakes of Powidz landscape park are their only occurrence in Europe. There are also many species of protected plants in the park, with special protection given to the insectivorous waterwheel plant as well as the creeping marshwort and the varnished hook moss.
Lake Powidzkie has high water clarity, so the choice of the beach in Giewartów to be a diving beach is not a surprise. Skorzęcin is the most popular leisure center in the park.
Apart from the availability of multiple water sports on the lakes of Powidz landscape park (sailing, windsurfing, rafting and stand-up-paddling), there are also over 200 kilometers of designated cycle paths with information boards and resting areas.
Text: Jacek Y. Łuczak
Translation: Kaja Kurczewska