AFP - Prince Charles, the eco-friendly heir to the British throne, is to visit a rare herd of European bison in Poland's primeval Bialowieza forest next week, local authorities said Monday.

"Prince Charles and his wife want to see the bison in their unique natural habitat," Jolanta Gadek, spokesperson for Poland's Podlasie province was quoted by the Polish PAP news agency as saying.

The Bialowieza forest spanning part of Poland's border with Belarus, is a rare European primeval forest and a protected national park.

A unique herd of some 800 European bison live in the forest -- some 450 on the Polish side. The endangered mammals are cousins of the North American buffalo.

A herd of some 700 that lived in the forest prior to World War One was all but wiped out by German troops and local poachers. The existing herd was bred from seven surviving animals.

The royals will also visit a small mosque in the eastern Polish village of Kruszyniany on the Polish-Belarussian border populated by descendents of Tatars who at the end of the 17th century were granted land by Poland's King Jan III Sobieski as payment for their military service.

Poland's tiny Tatar minority also constitutes the predominantly Roman Catholic country's indigenous Muslim population.

Prince Charles will visit Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary March 15-23.

The Polish leg of the visit will focus on "cooperation in the area of environment protection, defence and matters concerning ethnic and religious minorities," according to a statement by the British embassy in Warsaw.