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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poles are responsible for 90% of the violations of nature-protection rules recorded in the Slovak part of the High Tatras, a mountain range that runs along the border between the two countries, the Slovak Tatra National Park (TANAP) has revealed.
In response to what TANAP says is an “increasing number of violations”, its rangers recently undertook joint patrols with their counterparts from the Polish Tatra National Park (TPN). TANAP says that, among the hundreds of visitors they checked, “90% of violations were recorded among Polish citizens”.
The most severe penalties were imposed on tourists who camped in unauthorised areas. Other fines were imposed for swimming in mountain lakes, flying drones, and hiking outside marked trails.
“The nature of the Tatra National Park is not a backdrop for selfies or an obstacle course for personal challenges,” TANAP wrote. “It is a sensitive and precious area that must be treated with respect and reverence.”
“The rules that apply in the national park serve to protect the mountain environment,” they added. “The aim of these checks is not to harrass visitors, but to protect the unique Tatra nature and at the same time increase the safety of the tourists themselves.”
The Slovak and Polish Tatra National Parks jointly form a cross-border protected area that is home to a number of protected and rare animal species, such as the Tatra marmot, the Tatra chamois, the golden eagle and the peregrine falcon.
The Slovak park is visited annually by almost 3.5 million people, according to the TANAP website, and tourists have a network of 600 km hiking trails at their disposal. This August, a new record was established when 23,812 tourists, both pedestrians and cyclists, visited the park on a single day.
In order to allow for efficient protection of nature, a number of rules need to be kept in place. For instance, flying and filming with drones is only possible when an appropriate permit is issued, as the devices can disrupt the rhythms of animals that perceive them as predators or competitors.
Two men have been fined for entering a national park at night to illuminate a mountaintop cross on the anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death.
The park says it was simply enforcing regulations but critics say the illumination is an annual tradition https://t.co/zPGHB90LJQ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 15, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. She is a member of the European Press Prize’s preparatory committee. She was 2022 Fellow at the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at City University of New York. In 2024, she graduated from the Advanced Leadership Programme for Top Talents at the Center for Leadership. She has previously contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy and Duży Format.
