Dancing forest. Curonian Spit, Kaliningrad region - “A landmark invented out of the blue. If you are going to the Curonian Spit on your own, you can leave the “forest” aside (if you did not come from the steppe).” Curonian spit. Anomalous Zone - Dance
Kaliningrad region, curonian spit. Here is one of the most unique and beautiful places, created by nature - Dancing forest. It is located on the 36th kilometer of the Curonian Spit near the village of Rybachy. It is considered an anomalous zone due to the fact that the trees here do not grow up, but bend, as if in a wild dance. Rumor has it that the instruments of the psychics who came here went off scale ...
The most famous tree in the Dancing Forest. It is believed that if you climb into the ring with right side, you can increase the life of a year. Previously, there were even special stages for those who wanted to squeeze in. Fences have now been erected because the trees are in danger of extinction. The diameter of the ring is about 70 cm.
2. First of all, when entering the forest, we are warned about the danger. I suspect that this is done in order to sharply scare the tourist so that he does not leave the path and trample the soil and mosses.
3. I arrived here at nine in the morning, having caught a taxi driver at the station. Of course, it would have been necessary earlier to catch the right light
4. To prevent visitors from trampling the forest, convenient footbridges were built for them
5. The first "dancers" begin to come across. The trees most loved by visitors have smooth, greasy trunks and are trampled all around.
6. A little digression into history. pine forests played the most important role on the Kurshka Spit during the struggle against the sand disaster. Indigenous forests were cut down and the Germans in the middle of the 19th century began to create artificial forest plantations.
7. Foresting 1 hectare of a dune at that time cost from 500 to 1500 German marks (today, probably, this amount should be multiplied by a hundred times)
8. Pine is very unpretentious and has the ability to develop on moving ground.
9. Under optimal conditions, the pine has a highly developed root system that goes deep into the soil. Here it develops superficially, has the shape of an umbrella and strong storm winds easily uproot trees.
10. The pine forest of the Dancing Forest in its natural state is covered with a continuous carpet of green mosses. But it is enough for 40 people to pass one after another in the same direction for a path to appear.
11. With the disappearance of moss that retains moisture, the soil dries up. Compacted with the feet of visitors, it ceases to allow air to reach the roots of the trees ...
12. And the roots located in the upper soil layer receive mechanical damage. As a result, the needles fall off, the crowns become bare, the trees dry up, the forest is doomed.
13. I would like to believe that our descendants will also be able to enjoy such beauty.
14. The grass is really fluffy! I have not seen such a beautiful and real forest for a long time!
15. I also couldn’t get past the spidery beauties - all the pines are hung with their nets
16. For many years I have not been able to take morning macro photography of cobwebs with droplets. Either there is no makrushnik, then the weather is not suitable, then time is running out ...
17. The guy is already cutting the 12th circle!
18. The one that is bigger is a female. I did not wait until she persuaded the male ...
19. Here it is - a dark blue forest!
20. Good nature for the scene of a movie. I hope this doesn't happen here.
21. Having driven about 15 kilometers, I found a few more dancing trees near the camp site "Dunes"
22. And this is a view of the freshwater Curonian Lagoon
23. On the shore, I found the body of a snag in the form of a bird seal. The anomalous zone also worked ...
The Dancing Forest is one of the most mysterious sights of the Curonian Spit National Park in the Kaliningrad Region. It is located on the 37th kilometer of the spit, not far from the village of Rybachy. The place got its name thanks to the intricately curved trunks of pine trees, as if frozen in a dance. The trunks writhe, bifurcate and even bend into a ring. What is most interesting is that the anomalous shape of the trunks is not found in the entire forest, it is concentrated in only one small area.
History and legend
So far, there is no single accepted explanation for this. amazing phenomenon. Along with scientifically based versions, there are even romantic legends. As if once the Sambian prince Barty hunted in these places. In the clearing, he saw a beautiful girl named Predinia playing the harp. The prince was so captivated by her beauty that he immediately asked her to marry him. A serious obstacle for the couple was the difference in religion - Predinia was a Christian, and Bartius was a pagan. The prince agreed to accept her faith if she proved that her God is so omnipotent that he can command the trees. The girl began to play the harp, the trees began to move to the beat of the melody. It was on this place that the Dancing Forest grew many years later.
A more mundane version explains the anomaly by the activity of pests. Caterpillars damage the developing apical buds, because of this, the growth of the tree in the future occurs due to lateral buds, hence the deformation of the trunk.
Some scientists believe the reason unusual shape trees a combination of natural and climatic conditions of the area. The fact is that dunes are located on the territory of the Curonian Spit. Sand mobility and strong winds constantly blowing with Baltic Sea, could affect the growth of trees.
There is also a test version chemical substances that the Germans held here during the existence of the glider school.
The mystery that envelops the origin of the phenomenon, the mysticism and unusual shape of the trees make the place especially attractive to tourists. This interest has led to negative consequences for the forest - trampling the soil, damaging the bark of trees. This is due to the active desire of travelers to touch strange trees and take pictures with them as a keepsake. In order to protect and preserve the trees, the territory of the Dancing Forest was fenced off, and a special path made of wooden flooring was laid for tourists.
Excursions to the Dancing Forest
As a rule, excursions cover several routes of the Curonian Spit. Along with the forest, the standard bus tour includes Efa height, which offers stunning views of the dunes and the Curonian Lagoon, as well as the Fringilla ornithological station (here you can learn a lot of interesting things about birds and watch the process of their ringing). The trip usually takes 6 hours. It should be borne in mind that if the group is large, then the time for inspection will be less. There are tour operators that offer excursions for small groups, here it is possible to see all the sights without haste. In addition, it remains free time for walks along the picturesque coast of the Baltic Sea (where you can find amber), souvenir shopping and lunch.
It is also possible to order an individual tour and choose interesting places visits at your discretion. In this case, you can devote more time to the mysteries and mysteries of the mystical forest, the guides probably have a lot interesting stories about him.
You can choose a guide and get acquainted with the excursion programs at
How to get to the Dancing Forest
Be sure to ask the driver to stop at the Dancing Forest, otherwise you will have to walk for a long time.
It is more convenient, of course, to travel by private car - this way you can see all the main sights of the Curonian Spit, because many of them are at a decent distance from each other. But keep in mind that entry by car into the park is paid - 150 rubles. per car and 150 rubles. from each adult, 75 rubles. from a child from 12 years old, younger children do not need to pay.
You can also rent a car for a day or use a taxi service - Yandex. Taxi, Uber, Gettaxi and others.
GPS coordinates of the place: 55.179897, 20.860593.
How to get from Kaliningrad by car
The distance from Kaliningrad to the mystical forest is about 80 km. This way by car can be overcome in an average of 1.5 hours.
Route Kaliningrad - Dancing Forest on Google Maps
Video about the Dancing Forest on the Curonian Spit
in the middle of the usual pine forest Curonian Spit with bright green caps of moss tussocks right square located mysterious dancing forest.
The Curonian Spit has been under the protection of UNESCO since 2000. Sea, pines and white dunes, space and untouched nature, which almost disappeared from the face of the Earth several hundred years ago when the deforestation of ship timber began. Realizing the scale of the disaster, in the 19th century they landed here new forest, designed to protect the unique landscape from the harsh winds of the Baltic.
Trunks of trees in the dancing forest are bent in a bizarre way into loops and spirals, trying to crawl along the ground. A path is laid along the perimeter - a wooden flooring, from which it is very undesirable to leave. Those who believe in mysticism can be guided by the version of dark energy that curled pine trunks into rings. Realists, on the other hand, will pay attention to signs with a warning about tick-borne encephalitis (paths employees national park handle special tool). In addition, walking on a thin layer of earth thins the soil cover even more, and scraping the bark from trees (by repeatedly applying tourists: “Vasya, take a picture of me here again”) does not contribute to the health of the forest.
FACTS If we look at the map, we will see a saber-shaped strip of land between Russia and Lithuania, from Zelenogradsk to Klaipeda. 98 km of protected area with a width of 400 m (the village of Lesnoy, in the Russian part) to 3.8 km near the village of Nida. In the middle lies the only highway, at all exits from which there are barriers. We leave the car and continue on foot. In one direction - to the salty sea, in the other - to the freshwater bay. The forest was planted half a century ago, in the 60s of the XX century, as part of the spit's defense system, but for some reason, in this very place, the trunks bent very strangely, as if some kind of force acted on them. True, then the force, apparently, ceased to act, as the trunks straightened and went up. Entrance to protected area will cost only 300 rubles. from Russia and 20 litas (approximately 254 rubles) from Lithuania. The dancing forest is located on the Russian side, on the 37th km.
HYPOTHESES The most different - from an eccentric forester, bending down trees to an energy fault (they say that negative and positive energies meet in this place). The most beautiful hypothesis, of course, is from the past. The tribes of the ancient Prussians and Curonians lived in this place, worshiping nature, including trees. Individual trees, distinguished by their size, age or shape, were especially revered. Even the symbol of the power of the high priest of the Prussians, Krive Krivayto, was a krivulya - a staff made of curved wood. The Prussians considered trees bent into a ring as a gateway to the world of spirits. From here came the custom to crawl through such "gates" in the hope of getting rid of ailments, illnesses and for the fulfillment of desires. There is also a prosaic version: ordinary pine seedlings were planted here, and they resisted the winds as best they could - where the wind blows, they turn there. Then the dunes became lower - the trees got stronger and stopped turning.
Ovchinnikova Yulia Vladimirovna To the dunes here special treatment. Historically, the local population from century to century had to fight the sands in order to survive. The traditions have survived to this day. And now volunteers and volunteers are working on the Curonian Spit, strengthening the "walking" sands. The sand is pierced with stakes, brushwood is braided into them. After the sand enters this structure, the process begins again. And so many years in a row. Then pine trees are planted there, which pierce the sand with their roots, slowing down the movement ... Another attraction of the Curonian Spit is the dancing forest ... Only there, on the spit, I learned that there are more than 20 species of pines in nature ... Pine and pine ... What makes its trunk take such bizarre shapes? I only know: to wander and breathe in such a forest is easy, easy.
sixty The dancing forest is located quite close to the sea, and the shore of the Baltic Sea is dunes. And do not think that the sand is not mobile, we compare it with time - "runs like sand." And it is the movement of the dunes that is considered the reason for such bizarre bends of trees. Once upon a time, most likely, the dunes reached the place where the dancing forest is now, but the trees still wanted to grow and sway in the Baltic wind. So they had to break through a dense layer of sand, and even more than in one stage ... They spun, but sprouted, and now we are thinking and wondering how this happened.
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http://www..jpgThe smallest among the national natural parks Russia - "Curonian Spit" in the Kaliningrad region. And he is one of the most visited. There really is something to see here. One of the park's most popular tourist attractions is the "dancing forest" or, as it is also called, the Drunken Forest.
Pines that "dance"
In the 1960s, near the village of Rybachy, foresters planted pine trees on the Krugly dune to fix the sands. Years passed and...
At first, you don't notice anything special here. Pine trees rise on both sides of the forest path, the bark of which is densely covered with lichens. But from some point on, pine trees with intricately curved trunks often come across the eye (see photo).
The trunks are not just tilted, they resemble writhing snakes, loops, spiral coils. On the Curonian Spit, this place is called the "drunken forest".
It is worth going through the site (no more than a kilometer), and the forest again turns out to be ordinary. Here's something to think about:
... who arranged these "dances"?
There are a dozen or two explanations for the phenomenon, including legends - ancient (about sorcerers) and modern (about aliens). Real hypotheses (for example, the influence of winds) are difficult to explain the main thing - why in neighboring areas the pines look quite decent, but here ... they “danced”.
Curonian Spit: drunken forest, photo
Versions of the appearance of the Drunken Forest
Version 1. A caterpillar of a butterfly named pine shoot eats away the apical buds, and the shoots become like a lyre or a bayonet on the trunk. Maybe the forest in this area survived an outbreak of pest mass reproduction? But after it, the trunks do not form loops or rings. Yes, and the butterfly lives from Britain to the Kuriles, but the "drunken forest" grows only on the Curonian Spit.
Version 2. It is possible that the Kruglyaya dune differs from others in the high mobility of the sands. They covered the tiny pines, tilting their fragile trunk first in one direction, and after a few years in the other. The stem always grows strictly vertically. So the pines had to adapt every time to different angle tilt (see photo). And when it becomes woody, it retains its former position. However, it is still necessary to prove that the local sands were indeed more mobile than the neighboring ones.
Version 3. The anomalous trees could have grown from the seeds of a tree that carried a growth gene mutation. She passed on to her descendants. Checking this is easy: you need to sow the seeds of "dancing trees" and watch how they grow. Mutations are hereditary.
Version 4. Are there any substances in the local soil that affect the growth of plants? In 2006, pine trees were planted in the anomalous square and are being observed. So far, nothing of note has been found.
Let's not talk about mystical explanations here: biofields, "vortexes of energy" and other interesting, but unproven things. There are people who like to believe it, and there's nothing to be done about it.
Here the tourist is a welcome guest
How to get to the "dancing forest" on the Curonian Spit? The easiest way is to take a guided tour. On the 38th kilometer of the road going towards Lithuania, there is a sign to the forest. You can go by bus from Kaliningrad, Zelenogradsk and Svetlogradsk towards the village of Morskoe. Drivers at your request will stop near the desired turn.
There is a hiking trail through the forest. At the entrance there is a parking lot, information boards, stalls with souvenirs, a cafe.
The paths departing from the main route are covered with a boardwalk with railings. This protects the soil from compaction and trampling. Most unusual trees they are protected from tourists who, having heard a lot of fiction, strive to grab the tree tighter, or even crawl through the trunk ring in order to “get younger”. At the same time, the bark is peeled off and not restored.
The park has carved log benches. You can sit down, look around and admire: there are so many interesting and amazing things in nature!