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The Pieniny is a range of rocks formed in shape of an arch 35 km long and 3,5 – 6 km wide. It boarders with the Gorce Mountains from the north – west and with Sądecki Beskid mountains from the north- east. The highest peak of the Pieniny is the Wysoka mountain (1050 meters ASL) located above the picturesque Homole Gorge. The oldest geological forms of the Pieniny come from the Jurassic and the Cretaceous periods. In those times the massif of Pieniny was placed under the sea surface and raised above the surface at the end of the Cretaceous period. In the Miocene period another orogeny movements took place.The
Pieniny are divided into three parts: Spisz Pieniny, Main Pieniny, and Small Pieniny.
When it comes to tourism the most attractive are The Main Pieniny which includes the massif of the Three Crowns, Macelak and Sokola Perć which in turn includes among others Sokolica (Falcon Rock) and Czertezik.
The climate in the Pieniny is quite mild in comparison with other mountain regions in Poland. In the Pieniny montains we can differentiate two climate levels: moderate warm and moderate cold.
Concerning the overcast the best month for tourists is September and the worst is November. In
the Pieniny there are not many rainy days and the average rainfall is quite low. Per year it is about 690 - 850 mm in the Dunajec Valley and about 1095 mm on the Wysokie Skałki.
The flora of the Pieniny is very varied. There are woods, meadows, grazing lands and groups of rock plants and screes. An interesting information for nature lovers is that in the Pieniny there are some plants that grow in no other place in the world. Those are: pieniny dandelion, coloured cornflower, sagebrush wormwood and some others. The woods in the Pieniny grow mainly on the slopes but there are no woods in the Dunajec Valley. Typical for this region stenothermic beech and fir trees grow on the steep slopes of the Central Pieniny. In the Dunajec Valley very typical element of the counrtyside are meadows which came into existence after clearing the forest. The fauna of the Pieniny region is also very varied. It is estimated that in the Pieniny there lives approximately half of all the species existing in Poland. From the invertebrate in the Pieniny there lives more than 5000 species but probably there is much more. A lot of them lives nowhere in Poland but in the Pieniny. Birds typical for this region are: raven, kestrel, black stork,
woodpeckers - black and three-toed and blackheaded titmouse.There are 61 mammals in the Pieniny, the best known are: fox, badger, boar, deer, marten, weasel and roe deer. The Pieniny National Park was created on 01 June1932. In those times the area of the Park was much smaller - 756 hectares, comparing to 2346 hectares today ( the Polish side). The Pieniny National Park has its headoffice in Krościenko. Nowadays the Pieniny National Park cooperates with the Slovak PIENAP which includes the area of 2125 hectares.
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foto: Jerzy Zięba
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