Łukie (Jezioro Łukie) is the largest lake in the Polesie National Park. It lies in the gmina of Urszulin in Włodawa County, north of the village of Stare Załucze, amidst peat bogs and alder swamps. There is no road leading right to the water: it can only be reached on foot via the wooden boardwalks of the „Spławy” trail, which ends with a floating platform over the water surface. Therefore, it is quiet near Łukie even in summer, and there are often more birds than people.
A lake that is turning into a bog
Łukie is a eutrophic lake with lush aquatic and reed vegetation, which is gradually transforming into a dystrophic, i.e., boggy one. Scientists compared its outlines over forty years, from 1952 to 1992, and saw that it had noticeably overgrown on all sides. In the northern part, the plants formed three islands, and the extension that once stretched to the southeast has dried up. Thus, before the eyes of several generations, the lake is repeating the path that other Polissian water bodies, which became peat bogs, have trodden for millennia.
The name of the village also comes from the lake: Stare Załucze lies "behind Łukie" when viewed from the northern shore. From the 16th century, these lands belonged to the Wereszczyński family, later to the Załuski family, and from 1803 German pitch-burner families settled here.
Who lives at Łukie
From the platform, you can see mute swans, grebes, coots, and ferruginous ducks. The western marsh harrier hunts over the reeds, and from above you can catch sight of the park's largest bird of prey—the white-tailed eagle. In the surrounding forests and meadows, you can encounter the moose, crane, and beaver, and in the warm bays lives the European pond turtle. Near the lake stands a tourist shelter where you can rest.
The trail to the lake itself is worth noting: nearly 4.5 km of boardwalks lead through the transition peat bog „Spławy”, horsetail thickets, bog birch forests, and the so-called „dici's dam” — a boardwalk through the alder swamp, especially beautiful in early spring.
Fishing
Łukie lies in Polesie National Park, and fishing is not allowed here: the park opens only one water body to anglers — the Głęboki pond near Pieszowola. There you may fish from the shore at designated spots from 1 May to 30 November with a fishing card and a paid park permit; fishing at night, from a boat, with live bait or with groundbait is prohibited.
How to get there
Stare Załucze is about 6 km west of Urszulin, located on route No. 82 Lublin — Włodawa (from Włodawa to Urszulin it is about 35 km). Free parking is available near the park museum; the museum itself is currently closed for renovation, but the trail is open from dawn to dusk. The entire „Spławy” loop is about 7.5 km and takes 2.5–3 hours; admission is paid, and tickets are sold online and at the park headquarters in Urszulin. This is not a beach lake: you can approach the water only from the platform. Near Stare Załucze, longer routes also pass — the path to Pieszowola, the blue trail from Wytyczno to Urszulin, and the Southern Lakeland Trail. The second famous lake in the park is Moszne. This is Poland: Ukrainian citizens need a foreign passport.
