BELARUSIAN NATURE: Unique and astonishing Belovezhskaya Pushcha

Belovezhskaya Pushcha is one of the world’s oldest nature reserves with more than 600-year history and the largest primeval forest in Europe. It is fascinating in every season and is indisputably one of the most breathtaking places on the planet. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is an UNESCO World Heritage site located in Belarus and Poland. In 2020, it featured on the list of top 25 travel destinations compiled by National Geographic. Occupying around 153,000 hectares, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the largest national park in Belarus. It remains an oasis of pristine nature on the densely populated continent.

The national park is home to more than 1,000 plant species, including rare and endangered ones, and 59 animal species, which is 85% of all Belarus’ fauna. The most interesting animal is the European bisonthat is included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The European bison is the largest animal in Europe and one of the most ancient species of bison in the world. By the way, over the past five years, the population of the bison in Belovezhskaya Pushcha increased by almost a third. In 2016, it included 480 animals and in 2021, there are at least 630-640 bison, including calves.

The national park offers sightseeing tours that include a visit to the Museum of Nature and open-air cages with wild animals. Visitors can also check out hiking routes, for example, “Lake Ring”, or “Northern Path” that starts at the house of legendary Count Tyshkevich/Tyszkiewicz, or “Dokudovo” that leads to a swamp that was dried up in the 1960s and is now frequented by wild ungulates searching for food. In the morning and in the evening, one can often spot there bison, red deer, roe deer, and wild boars as well as birds.

Travelers can also go on a “Big Journey” on bicycles. Cyclists will see the red oak brought to Belovezhskaya Pushcha in the 1920s-1930s from North America, a birch with the ‘bison head’, an ancient 550-year-old oak, and a pine that is 350 years old and 125cm in diameter! History buffs will like the route “In the footsteps of Napoleon” which will take them to the sites of battles between the Russian and French armies during the War of 1812. The route “Animal Crossing” runs through an old pine forest, the average age of trees there ranges from 200 to 250 years!