"Brestskaya Voblasts'" Brestskaya Voblasts' by Yogi555

Brestskaya Voblasts' means in the Byelorussian language Brest administrative region or Brest province like the Russian version ?Brestskaya Oblast? does. This is one the six Belarusian regions, that is situated in the southwest of Belarus, the western gateway to Belarus. It is crossed by the transcontinental European highway and railroad Paris ? Moscow. It covers the area of 32700 sq. km. It borders on Poland in the west, on the Ukraine on the south, on Grodno region in the north, on Minsk region in the east.The region is divided into 16 administrative Districts with the capitals in Brest, Zhabinka, Kamenets, Pruzhany, Kobrin, Beryoza, Drogichin, Ivatsevichi, Ivanovo, Pinsk, Baranovichi,Lyachovichi, Gantsevichi, Luninets, Stolin (Russian versions of the names). The biggest cities in the region are Brest, Baranovichi, Pinsk. The main tourist attraction in Brest is the War memorial ?Brest Fortress?. For eco tourists the ? Belovezhskaya Pushcha? National Park? is a Mecca.

Bison in Belovezhskaya Pushcha NP

Belovezhskaya Pushcha is 70 km north of Brest, an hour's drive by a couch. That is the biggest primeval forest in Europe, home to many rare animals. The forest was once the hunting grounds of kings and tsars. In 1992 it became the first National Park and World Heritage Site in Belarus. The unique forest is shared by Belarus and Poland. The National Park in Poland has the similar name Puszcza Bialowieska.
The frontier dividing Poland and Belarus runs across the forest and as a rule is closed for tourists for the time being.
Once Belarus was totally covered by forests and there were a lot of pushchas. The people could travel here only along rivers till the 14th century. As a matter of fact, roads and bridges appeared much later.
The Belarusian National Park covers the area of 215,871 acres (87.360 ha). The Polish National Park covers 13,136 acres (5.316 ha). The whole forest has a wide range of flora and fauna (including elk, deer, and wild boar) from both western and eastern Europe. It is the sanctuary of the virtually extinct European bison, or wisent, the largest animal in Europe. The European bison is taller but lighter than the American bison. I could see them only at a distance from behind bars. Several are kept in a spacious enclosure surrounded by massive bars. Like cows they feed on grass or hay. Once upon a time in the ages of mammoth the bison inhabited all the woods ranging from Europe to Asia.
The pushcha sustains typical European forest fauna communities with 55 mammalian, 212 avifaunal, 11 amphibians and seven reptile species. Over 8000 insect species have been recorded in the adjacent Polish park. Rodents prevail here among mammals numbering over 20 species.
A museum offers a rich collection of flora and fauna. There is good hotel accommodation here as well.

Quite a new attraction is the unique museum of New Year and Russian Father Frost. Thousands of tourists have seen the museum by January 1, 2004.

Address:
70 km north of Brest

Directions:
Kamenets District

• Pros:Western gateway to Belarus and Russia
• Cons:few big cities