Plan your trip

How to get here

The Oder Delta Safaris  is located in north-west part of  Poland 60 km north-east Szczecin and 200 km north-east Berlin, 25 km from the S3/E65express road.  In Alternative road to the Baltic Sea trough Recław city.

Airplane

A plane to Berlin is probably the easiest way to get Oder Delta. From Berlin airport is only 2,5 hour distance by car to get Oder Delta. Other airport closed to Oder Delta is Szczecin-Goleniów only 30 km from the destination.

Public busses

Public bus transport between different cities and in the countryside can be tricky to use. There are a number of private bus companies and many of them use separate bus stations. .  It is easy to get Szczecin or Goleniów from Berlin by busses: flixbus.com , http://www.pksszczecin.info. From Goleniów  the best is take a small bus to Stepnica. There is a website of the main company in the area: emilbus.pl

Train

To search for train connections in Poland and buy tickets online visit rozklad-pkp.pl.  To get Oder Delta look for Szczecin Główny or Goleniów. There is no train station in the area so is necessary use the buses from Szczecin Główny or Goleniów to Stepnica or Kopice to get Oder Delta Safaris.

Nature calendar

 

What is the best time to visit Oder Delta?

Here you can find a basic info that may help you choose the right time.

Oder Delta is an impressive sight in any season, which is why we offer a variety of safaris all the year.

Winter

The Oder Delta is an important stop-over site for migrating water birds using the East Atlantic Flyway, annually recording more than a quarter of a million birds during migrations and reach 150,000 individuals in winter. BirdLife International declared vast sections of the delta as “Important Bird Area”. Polish part of the Oder Delta is one of the most important sites for migratory and wintering waterbirds, especially for Aythyini, Mergini and White-tailed eagle. The area is a crucial importance on a European for several diving ducks, namely, Greater Scaup (38-70% of the NW European wintering population), Smew (10-17%), Common Merganser (9-15%), Tufted Duck (up to 6%), Pochard (2%) and Goldeneye (1%).

Winter is the best time to watch among other, such species as: Smew, Common Merganser, Tufted Duck, Golden Eye, Great egret, Grey heron, Whooper swan,  Common Coot; on the Baltic coast:  Long-tailed duck, Common scoter, Hornet grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Velvet scoter, Black-throated loon, Red-throated loon  and such more.

White-tailed eagles monitoring shows around two hundreds individuals wintering on the polish side of the area instead of breeding one. It is possible to watch them hunting water birds. White-tailed eagles usually target water-based birds as prey including grebes, ducks, coots, gulls, geese and even swans have been preyed upon. When targeting non-nesting birds, they often fly towards a waterbird repeatedly, forcing it to dive again and again, until the bird is exhausted and more easily caught.

We get not so much snow every year, it can already snow in December or January but this snow is likely to melt down quickly as the temperatures are often above zero. Usually  February are much more reliable regarding snow and low temperatures. We always get a few days of -10°C or more, sometimes even down to -15°C then icy landscape with wintering birds sitting in open water create spectacular view of Oder Delta. Mammals like Roe deer and Red deer  stay in herd during winter and it is a good time for wolf tracking, February and March is time when Red deer shed their antlers on an annual basis.

Mid-Winter

Mid-Winter is the breeding season of White-tailed eagle. The breeding season is characterised by frequent loud calling, especially by the male in the vicinity of the eyrie, sometimes taking the form of a duet between the pair. Eagles have a characteristic aerial courtship display which culminates in the pair locking claws mid-air, whirling earthwards in a series of spectacular cartwheels, and separating sometimes only a few feet above the ground or water and soaring upwards again.

In February and March there is a massive return of birds from their wintering areas some of them return earlier like: Northern lapwing, Common crane, Skylark, Greylag goose, Bean goose, Greater white-fronted goose, Red kite. In March the weather can be unpredictable. It can be cold and snowy or warm and sunny.

Also, March-April are by far the best months for watching Woodpeckers. There are mainly six species of them breeding in the Oder Delta: Black woodpecker, Green woodpecker, Great-spotted woodpecker, Middle-spotted woodpecker, Lesser-spotted woodpecker, Wryneck.

Wetlands surrounding the lagoon are important feeding grounds for geese, swans, waders and raptors, as well as an important breeding site for over 200 species of birds. Spring time from April to June is the real feast for birdwatchers and nature photographers.

Most of the migrants return like Common snipe, Bittern, Wryneck, Hoopoe, Red-backed shrike, Montagu’s Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Great Reed Warbler, as well as birds that have become rare or even extinct in Europe such as Aquatic warbler, Corncrake. Spring is the typical mating season for most bird species in the Oder Delta.

In April the temperatures average around 10°C in the day but mornings can still be frosty. May is usually nice, warm and sunny with temperatures up to 20°C. Late March and April are fantastic time for white-tailed eagle watching however, in the beginning of May they are not so active.

Moreover, April is great to watch all the nature wake up with masses of ground flowers in bloom, amphibians waking up, listen to mysterious evening frog concerts , birds singing,         Badger, Beaver more active. Days started to be longer and longer, however not long enough to see all things.

Spring

Many different  species of birds live in this pristine, largely undiscovered natural world of Oder Delta many of them rare or absent in Western Europe. Apart the above-listed are:

Black and Common Tern, Little gull, Kingfisher, Golden oriole, Rose finch, Bluethroat, Bearded reedling, Black-Tailed Godwit, Shelduck, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Northern Shoveler,  Common Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed plover, Red and Black Kite, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Honey buzzard , Tawny owl, Burn owl, Nightingale, Robin, Flycatcher and such more.

Summer

June, July, August are the best months for wildlife watching like Badger, Beaver, Red deer , it is possible to spot them in daylight and capture amazing photo. Most of them rise the pups. Summer is a season for explore Butterflies, Dragonflies, Amphibians, Reptiles and Wildflowers. Wildlife watching is possible in the mornings and evenings because of high temperature above 20°C or even 30°C at midday. June is still a good time for birdwatching. and watching white-tailed eagle from the boat.

Autumn

Late August and September is a spectacular Red deer rutting season other mammals are still active but the days are shorter. It is again good time for birding  with good numbers of Woodpeckers, Owls, Waterfowl, Waders,  Birds of Prey and Finches.

September and October are the best months for atmospheric mist landscapes with beautiful autumn colours.  It can still be quite warm during the day even more than 10°C  but in the mornings temperature can dropping down to 0°C. By the end of October, November most migratory birds are gone and there are only a few resident species left, on the other hand in autumn white-tailed eagles are so active. Late November can be quite dull, rainy and cold.

More details you can find here:

http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/szczecin-lagoon-iba-poland/details

http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/goleniow-forest-iba-poland/details

http://natura2000.eea.europa.eu/# searching by Nature 2000 site codes: PLB320009, PLB320007, PLB320012, PLH320018, PLB320002, PLH320019, PLB990003, PLB320011, PLB320006.