Dwoiśniak is a modest but genuinely fascinating spot in the Zielona Gąsienicowa Valley in the Tatra Mountains - two tiny ponds that most hikers walk straight past without noticing. It is a stop for those who enjoy looking down at their feet as much as up at the peaks, because a real natural curiosity hides here.

The surroundings have the calm, gentle character typical of the Gąsienicowa glade - open grassy slopes, views of the nearby summits, and proximity to the busy trail leading to Kasprowy Wierch. Today only one of the two original ponds survives, the lower Dwoiśniak, which never dries up even in summer. The other, the upper Dwoiśniak, has become overgrown with grass and completely dried out - a legacy of human interference during the construction of a ski run. In spring the area comes alive as common frogs and mountain and Carpathian newts breed in the water, while in summer the quiet stillness contrasts sharply with the crowds heading to Kasprowy.

How to get there

• From the 'Murowaniec' shelter - yellow trail, about 1:25 h up, 1:05 h down, easy route
• The pond lies about 1 km from the shelter, just below the lower station of the Kasprowy Wierch chairlift

Practical information

• The ponds sit right next to the trail, on its south-eastern side - easy to miss, worth looking carefully
• The lower Dwoiśniak is a permanent lake and does not dry up even during drought
• The area is home to an endemic copepod species, Diaptomus tatricus, found nowhere else in the world

These unassuming puddles hide one of the most fascinating natural corners of the Tatras - a place where some invertebrates reach the highest altitude of their entire range in the mountains.