BELAVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA
Forestpreserve, not far from the city of Brest on Polish border

Belavezhskaya Pushcha - a rare nook of virgin nature. Here one can find pine-trees which tower up to the very sky, magnificent oaks the stems of which can not be embraced by several men. The age of these unique trees is more than five centuries.

The animal world of Belavezhskaya Pushcha is surprising, poetic and fantastic - It is a house for about 300 species of vertebrates. The king of Belavezhskaya Pushcha is the legendary Ouroch or European bison. In ancient times these powerful and peculiar graceful animals lived in the forests all over the world. Today - each of them is to be counted.

Pushcha is one of very few places in the world where these ancient animals live cageless.

For many years Pushcha had been the favorite hunting place for Polish kings and then for Russian tzars. These royal amusements cost a lot to Pushcha: by the beginning of World War 1 there were only 730 bisons. By 1921 they had practically been exterminated. Today there are more than 400 bisons in Pushcha.

Belovezhskaya Pushcha is not only a nature preserve. Here one can also get a license for hunting of some animals. There is a unique Nature Museum, not far from it there is a vast fenced area where the visitors can see bisons, deer, bears and wild boars alive. There is also a small but cosy hotel.

World Ecology and Environment Organization has subsidized 7 million USD for the further development and protection of Belavezhskaya Pushcha.


BEREZINSKY NATURE PRESERVE

The Bereziinsky Nature Preserve - a remnant of primordial Belarusian nature protected by man - is a 20-killometre wide strip of land that stretches over a distance of more than 60 km- from the source of the beautiful Berezina RIIVER to Lake Palik. Boundless forests, fairyland swamps, deep rivers and lakes have existed here for thousand years according to laws of their own, preserving the gorgeous world of animals and plants. Because of its natural variety the preserve is unique and has no analog in Western Europe.

In 1979 it was, included in the international biospheric preserve network created in the framework of the regular UNESCO "Man and Biosphere" (MAB) Program.

The preserve is inhabited by 52 species of mammals. Three of them are included in Belarus Red Data Book, wiz the European bison, the Brown Bear and the Badger. The most notable inhabitant ot the forest rivers and lakes of the presence is the beaver. Over a hundred of beavers settlements are on record. The bear iis the largest of the predators. There are about 20 beasts in the area. They are most frequently found in the forests and bogs of the central part and in the absolute protection zone. After a three-hyndred-year gap the preserve again hosts the European bison, a species exterminated in the Vitebsk land as early as the 18th century and re-introduced today owing to the efforts of man.

The feathered world of the preserve is unbelievably varied. There are over 200 species. 167 of them nest here. Very many birds that have grown rare in Europe are common enough in the presence, the golden eagle, snake-hawk, osprey and common crane among them.

Among fishes the most important are the sheat-fish and the sterlet. The former is the largest fish of the presence (there are specimens in Lake Palik reaching the weight of 20-30 kg, even 50 kg). The sterlet is a fish belonging to the ancient family Acipenseridae.