A brief encounter with wild boar family

Luka — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:41:36 +0000

Wild boars are really fun to visit at Bavarian forest national park. You can actually get into their enclosure and observe them eye to eye. The enclosure is huge and the boars are not always to be seen, but if you visit them two or three times you have a good chance to come across them.

The third time I visited them they were finally close enough to make some photos. The family was numerous, there had to be at least twenty boars. No big males though – I guess they could be pretty dangerous to visitors.

Some of the boars were resting in the warm fallen-off foliage.

Nosy little piglet. What a cute animal!

What are you looking at?

Mama boar and her piglet.

It was fun to watch piglets running around. The forest was a playground for them and they were annoying other boars all the time. They were still suckling, but they tried everything they came across – even the dead leaves.

My sister photographing a boar. It was amazing experience to be with the boars. We spent almost an hour just sitting on the ground and watch the animals around us. The boars did not mind our presence at all.

Check also other posts on Bavarian forest national park.

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Wisent – the giant of the European forests

Luka — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:43:15 +0000

Wildlife is one of my favourite type of photography. Being in nature on the fresh air and observing the animals of all kinds is a rewarding enough by itself and if I manage to get a decent shot -what would I wish more? Unfortunately it is also one of the most difficult kinds of photography, the animals are unpredictive, usually hard to find and even harder to find in a real photo opportunity position.
Animals in captivity are much easier to photograph, but usually the setting is man-made and it doesn’t look appealing as a true wilderness is. At Bavarian forest national park (Bayerischer Wald National Park) there is a part where the animals are kept in large enclosures that look like a natural environment. The place is called Tier-Freigelände and is situated near Neuschönau village. They keep most of the European wild animals, wolves, deers, wild boars, bears, lynx, otters, several species of birds…

One of the most attractive animals is definitely a Wisent – European bison (Bison Bonasus), which was almost extinct, but they successfully reintroduced it to the wild. They roam freely now in the forests of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus… I’ve never seen those beautiful animals before so I was eager to finally encounter them.

The first two visits to their enclosure was a big disappointment as it is huge and the animals were hiding at the other end of it among the trees. It was impossible so see them even from the viewpoint above the enclosure. On the last day when I was already walking back to my room there they were! The day was ending and there was no people around so they moved closer to graze. I carefully approached them to the fence of the enclosure and prepared my camera.

An intimate sight of a mother and a calf.

The father was smelling the air for potential danger.

The adult bull. Magnificient animal!

Hey you funny looking animal, get away from my herd!

This bull obviously did not appreciate my presence. He approached me threatening, so I backed away and just observed these beautiful creatures from the distance.

I will post some more photos of the visit to Bavarian forest with the next posts.

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A brief encounter with wild boar family

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Wisent – the giant of the European forests

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