Country diary: I inhaled a whiff of wolf urine - it was the true essence of wilderness | Mark Cocker

Białowieża Forest, Poland: This is a vast and overwhelming place, a glimpse into a world as it was before we came alongThis place, which straddles two eastern European countries, has a reputation as the continent's last primeval forest - a glimpse of a world before it was smothered in ourselves and the homolith. To arrive at night is to tunnel through trees for mile after mile without end. And this, you realise, represents a fraction of the whole. Because beyond the border the Belorussian section of Białowieża is larger still. Overall, it extends to 149,000 hectares, but there is a further buffer forest of 131,000 hectares.To imagine this whole: take all of the RSPB's reserves in Britain, place them contiguously, then lay them end to end with all the 46 Wildlife Trusts' reserves and cover it largely in trees. They would still be less in area than Białowieża. Continue reading...