Vistula is the last wild European river. Find out more about this unique river.

Vistula river has its spring in mountains in sauthern Poland (Barania Góra).
The river flows northwards into the Gulf of Gdańsk (Baltic Sea).
It is the longest (1047km) and most important river of Poland. Its basin is 2/3 of the area of Poland.
Capital cities of Poland are located on its banks (the historic one: Kraków and the present one: Warsaw).
Historically it used to have a great signification as a communication route which conducted northwards to the port of Gdańsk.
Nowadays its main economic value is to provide water to nearby cities.

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What's more, the river is the last wild (unregulated) European river.
During a few past decades this river has earned a reputation of a very polluted river.
The pollution is a real problem, but each year the quality of water is getting better.
That's because of plenty of sandbanks, sand dunes and little islands which make up a great natural filter.
Along the river it can be found very beautiful and rare species of water birds.
Travelling down this river with a yacht or canoe you can admire the unique natural landscape of the valey.
You can meet there wood constructions made by beavers, you can stop for a while on a sandy bank to rest or for fishing.

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Canoeing on Vistula river has become a quite popular way of summer entertainment for citizens of Warsaw last time.
Taking part in a canoe trip organized by a non-profit foundation can be really cheap,
for example it is even posibble to have a 1 day canoe trip from Warsaw to Modlin (35 km) with a cost of only 20 zloties.
There are also organized special canoe events to memorize Warsaw Uprising anniversaries.

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One of the most amazing canoe trips on Vistula took place at the beginnig of March 2010.
Marek Kamiński - famous Polish traveller traversed the whole distance from Oświęcim to Gdańsk in a canoe.
His journey in air temperatures below 0 is really admirable.
He overcame the distance of 959 kilometers in 15 days.

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He drank filtered water from Vistula and ate fishes from the river.
He slept on the river's bank in a tent.

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During this trip he met a lot of people who were waiting for him on the bank to give him food or to take a photo.
But most of all to give him their words of support.

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The journey was quite dangerous especially as the wind can make big waves on the river.
Kamiński says that the fact that his trip has succeeded was a miracle.
According to this experienced traveller, Vistula is as wild and as unpredictable river as Amazon in South America.