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From the Pyrenees to the Urals, this was the face of Europe nearly 10,000 years ago,

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soon after the last Ice Age. A boundless virgin forest, where nature took its

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course virtually free of all human intervention. Yet these pictures date

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from today. They were filmed in Poland, more exactly in the heart of Bielowieża

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National Park, one of the last remaining fragments of primeval forest in Europe.

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Bielowieża forest is located at the eastern limit of the European Union. It

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covers more than 140,000 hectares on both sides of the border between Poland

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and Belarus. Paradoxically, preservation of the primeval forest of Bielowieża

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originated with the love of the hunt of the first kings of Poland, who made the

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forest their private hunting grounds.

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While other forests in Europe were transformed into managed forests,

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Bielowieża remained intact. Today it represents one of the world's richest

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biodiversities. It's the only place in Europe where such a high concentration

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of trees, several hundred years old, can be found.

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Bielowieża forest has become a sanctuary for many species. It counts

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more than 5,000 plant species and nearly 10,000 animal species, among them

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European bison and wolf.