The national park that draws mushroom hunters from around the world

In Lithuania’s Dzūkija National Park, losing yourself amongst the pine trees while hunting for mushrooms is an occurrence so common it has its own word: “nugrybauti”.

The thickening canopy of trees swallowed the last trace of sunlight, and with it, our sense of direction. Lifting our gaze from the forest floor, we noticed that the surrounding woods – minutes ago a familiar landscape of sun-dappled clearings and winding tracks – had been replaced by an expanse of dense brown shadows, suddenly foreign and disorienting.
Our guide Tom Baltušis, owner of the foraging tour company Dzūkijos Uoga, had noticed it too. “In Lithuania, we have a specific word for this sensation. Nugrybauti: lost in the forest whilst hunting for mushrooms.”
To a nation so fixated with foraging, these woods in Djūkija National Park in southern Lithuania hold a particular allure. Just an hour’s drive from the capital Vilnius, the park – Lithuania’s largest – is blanketed by dense pine forests, concealing a sprawling tapestry of bogs, black alder swamps and smoky marshland. It’s a protected landscape that supports an astonishing abundance and variety of edible mushrooms.
Foraging has long been a cornerstone of local life here, and the practice – once a necessity but now a beloved pastime – has shaped the region’s living habits, cuisine and economy over the centuries.