National park "Belovezhskaya pushcha"

Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the oldest national Park of Europe situated in Western part of Belarus within Grodno and Brest provinces (70 km away from Brest and 30 km away from Kamenets) along the state border with Poland and partially on the territory of Poland. Name of the park comes from the name of Belovezha Castle ("belo" means "white" and "vezha" means "tower" in Polish and Belorussian languages) situated in Poland. Nowadays the national park occupies the area of 85 thousand hectares stretching from North to South for 65 km and from West to East for 10 to 30 km. Once the area was reserved exclusively for hunting for Polish kings (1410-1794) and Russian tsars (1794-1914). In 1957 the Pushcha was officially proclaimed as a State Reserve and a Hunting Forest, and in 1991 reformed as a national park.

Climate and soil conditions of the territory are favorable for development of trees and shrub plants amounting up to 900 species.

86% of the area of Belovezhskaya Pushcha is covered by woods with coniferous forests prevailing (56%). The age of trees ranges up to 160-180 years while their heights amount up to 32-35 meters. Banks of rivers and water-meadows are trimmed with hazel nut-trees, while heights are usually covered with maples and ash-trees as well as with undergrowth of hazel nut. buck-thorn, strawberry and black currant bushes. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is extremely reach in herbaceous plants. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the only forest tract in Europe remaining actually intact. Variety of flora and mild climate form favorable conditions for life of forest animals. Here live 55 species of mammals, more than 200 species of birds, 11 species of amphibia, 7 species of reptiles. However, the most remarkable wild animal of the park - and the biggest one in Europe - is European bison called "zubr" in Belarus.

Early in the 19th century Belovezhskaya Pushcha was the only point on the map of Europe where bisons continued to live as on the rest of the territory of Europe they were actually exterminated. You can easily find wild boars through out Belovezhskaya Pushcha. There live also wolves, lynxes, polecats and ferrets, weasels, foxes, martens, ermines, raccoons and other forest inhabitants. Beavers and otters dwell along rivers and forest brooks while old woods swarm with hares. Fir woods are rich in squirrels. The most numerous rodents are mice whereas the most common insectivorous are moles and shrews.

The world of birds in Belovezhskaya Pushcha is even more various and rich. Along with typical western species (for example, red kite or canary finch) here you can find Sibirian species (three fingered woodpecker, long tailed tawny owl) as well as birds of North deciduous forests (green woodpecker). Furthermore, there are more than 20 species of predatory birds, plenty of wood game. Various hazel-hens are especially numerous in Pushcha. It is the very place where most of the capercailzies living in the country are concentrated, where black storks build their nests and some pheasants have been brought to breed.

In short, you can see a lot in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. By the way, for visitors there is a museum with a lot of interesting - things exhibited such as paintings with episodes of medieval hunting, stuffed animals from Pushcha and others. For those who are hungry there is a restaurant with exotic dishes. A lot of species living in Belovezhskaya Pushcha are kept for visitors in special hedged areas and cages. So you can enjoy the landscapes with bisons, elks, wild boars, volves. foxes, bears and so on as long as you wish.

Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a unique natural monument with many places of interest on its territory. On its land, a list of 110 rare plants subject to special protection has been compiled. There are some very interesting objects such as "a collar shaped pine^?' (a pine with collar shaped rind blades), weeping firs, accrete brother oaks. The first scientific research on Pushcha was published in 1741. . On the National Park territory the notorious "Viskuli" complex is situated. It was here that in 1991 leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the "Belovezhskoye Agreement** putting an end to the USSR. In 1992 UNESCO listed the National Park as a World Heritage Site. In 1993 it got the status of a Biosphere Reserve and in 1997 was awarded a Council of Europe Diploma. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is one of the four most famous and unique original forestlands in the world.