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» Description
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however has been to the Karkonosze Mountains should mostcertainly admit that the Small Pond (Maly Staw) Cirque belongs to their most beatiful spots. On this very mountain lake, where the forest gives way to the dwarf pine, there stands one of the oldest hostels in the Polish Mountains called SAMOTNIA (Secluded Place). Some consider it quite rightly to be a pearl among the Lower Silesia's chalets.
It is worthwhile to go astray from the main trail Karpacz Gorny - Mt Sniezka (Snowhill) in order to have a look at the Maly Staw Cirque and let our eyes enjoy the beauty of its landscape, the richness of alpine flora in summer and snowy overhangs in winter. The tarn is by no means a small one. 255 metres (837 ft.) long, 185 m (607) wide and 6,5 m (21) deep, it boasts quite a large size. Only by contrast with neighbouring and much bigger Great Pond (Wielki Staw) it was called the Small Pond. Its water surface is at the height of 1183 metres (3883 ft.) above sea level. 12 metres (39) above, at 1195 m (3922), there stands the hostel.
In 1959 the Karkonosze National Park was established. 5555 hectares in area, it extends along Polish-Czech border from Kowary to Szklarska Poreba as a 35-kilometerwide strip of land. The most precious parts of the park are under strict reservation. The Maly Staw region is one of those strict reserves. It boasts a particular variety of plant life. Small primose (Primula minima), Anemone narcissiflora, Gentiana asclepiadea, Padus petrea, Mulgedium alpinum, Cirsium heterophyllum, Adenostyles alliariae, Norwegian Cudweed, Swertia perennis, Martagon lily and many other unique Karkonosze plants grow in cut gullies, on rocky plateaus and around the tarn, whose still clear waters, apart from Brown trout and Brook trout contain the freshwater turbellarian warm (Monotus lacutris), a relict from the Ice Age.
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