Zabi Raj - Frog Paradise

The campground we had found in the last post wasn't on our map. No wonder, it was brand spanking new! The toilet block had just been finished and we were the first to use the toilet, the first to use the shower… and the only ones there! 
It's a farm type campground owned and operated by a lovely couple that have a camper themselves and ride a motorcycle as well. They turned out to be very friendly people; and you'll never guess what brand of motorcycle they have… yep, again it's 'you meet the nicest people on a Honda'.

Campgrounds aren't all that plentiful in this part of the world, so when the first set of coordinates were rogue and the second wasn't a campground either, we were somewhat wondering where we would camp at all that night. We headed for Warsaw, not that we wanted to but it was the only place listed with a campground that we knew of. It was getting rather late and as the sun drops pretty quickly at this time of year, we were in for a ride in the dark into a big city…

Just a few km up the road we spotted a campground sign and couldn't believe our luck! We were greeted by Beate from Zabi Raj who told us there was something with the toilets. We were all pretty tired and thus didn't listen all that well… as far as I knew Beate said something about the toilets not working but we were not to worry as we were the only ones using it…?!? Eeh? What she meant was that the toilet block was brand new, one door wasn't in yet but we shouldn't worry as we were the only ones camping at the moment. Beate switched on the hot water unit, cleaned the builders' stuff away, switched on the mains water pressure and we were in business.

Believe it or not but this is 'just' the camp kitchen… shown here by our host Beate. Just look at the hand made cabinets and all the little details! Beate is a good cook too!

We cooked a meal in the dark on our faithful Coleman petrol stove when Beate said we could use the kitchen in the house… We politely declined as she had done enough for us already and we didn't want to impose. What we didn't know was the farmhouse, which we thought was her private residence, was especially built for guests and the kitchen was thus for guests as well! Wow! She invited us for breakfast the next morning, which we gladly accepted, played with her playful cats a bit, looked at the clear starry night (including a falling star!) and then hit the hay. The nights are getting quite nippy around this time of year but a hot shower and good tent and sleeping bag takes care of that. 

The next morning we learned a lot more about the place we had stayed at. It used to be a camperspot but with the new toilet and shower block was now open for tent campers too. Zabi Raj is Polish for Frog Paradise, named after the thousands of frogs that inhabit the area. They are pretty quiet at this time of year though. We were gobsmacked when we saw the kitchen, which was made by an artist with wood! Hard to explain really but have a good look at the photos to see what he has made. Most campgrounds don't have a kitchen and when they do it's a pretty basic and simple affair. Not at Frog Paradise beautifully made cabinets and all the mod cons.

Beate presented us with a super breakfast of scrambled eggs, smoked ham, cottage cheese and plenty of spreads (which tasted great but not a clue as to what they were :-) and then declined any payment for it! It was her present to us as she feels it is very special what we do… If only the summer season in Europe would be a bit longer, then we would have had time to stay a bit longer too as there is so much to do and it's such a lovely place to stay. The campground has its own lake, complete with canoe hire and judging by the photos: Big fish to catch!

Zabi Raj also has rooms for rent inside the main farm house. It is not just a Frog Paradise, but a human paradise too and can be found at GPS coordinates: N52.58012 E21.06853 They have a website too: http://zabiraj.pl