Braslau Lakes is one of the seven Belarus National Parks. It is a unique ecosystem with a number of lakes and large area of pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 forest with a general area of about 700 km ². This include 30 lakes. The largest lakes are Dryviaty (be: Дрывяты), Snudy (be: Снуды), and Strusta (be: Струста).

Location

The territory of the National Park is separate and it is in Braslau administrative district near the border with Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. In the north it is adjacent to Belarusian-Latvian border. The entire territory of the park stretches in the north-eastern direction. In this direction it is 55 km long and in width it is between 5 to 29 km. Total area of the park is 69.1 thousand hectares. The southern part of the park is represented by lowlands covered with forests. The major part of the area is occupied by different types of bogs. One can encounter several beautiful forest lakes. Here you can find the lake Boginskoye - one of the most beautiful in the Braslav area. The forests here belong to coniferous-deciduous group, and occupy 31 thousands hectares. One can distinguish the following woodlands: Borunsky, Belmont, Boguinsky, Druiskaya Dacha. Pine-woods and fir-woods are widely spread.

History

Through the latest glacial period, about 18-29 thousand years ago, the area of Braslav Lakes was covered with vast ice fields, the thickness of up to several hundreds meters. The warming, which came afterwards brought along slow ice melting and its movement further to the north. As a result of the complicated process, which accompany the melting of such a huge amount of ice, the characteristic features of the nature of Poozerye with its hilly relief and lakes have shaped. Their concentration at certain relatively small territories is sometimes simply unique. In the North-West of the Republic of Belarus one of the most picturesque lake group of Belarusian Poozerye - the Braslav lakes- is located. An amazing lace comprising 30 big and small lake connected between each other spread out at the area of 114 km². The biggest lakes are Drivyaty, Snudy, Strusto, Voiso, Volosovo, Nedrovo, Nespish, Berezhe. This group of lakes made up the core of the Braslav Lakes National Park, which was set up in September 1995.

Animals and plants

Out of the rare species, which are entered in the Belarusian Red Book, the habitat of badger

Badger

Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...

, lynx

Eurasian Lynx

The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized cat native to European and Siberian forests, South Asia and East Asia. It is also known as the European lynx, common lynx, the northern lynx, and the Siberian or Russian lynx...

, bear

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

 are noticed. Out of the water-fowl you can distinguish the swan

Swan

Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...

s. This beautiful bird was practically ousted by people but now it inhabits the Braslav lakes. You can meet a black stork

Black Stork

The Black Stork Ciconia nigra is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread, but rare, species that breeds in the warmer parts of Europe, predominantly in central and eastern regions. This is a shy and wary species, unlike the closely related White Stork. It is seen in...

, common crane

Common Crane

The Common Crane , also known as the Eurasian Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes.It is a large, stately bird and a medium-sized crane at 100–130 cm long, with a 180–240 cm wingspan and a weight of 4.5–6 kg...

, silver seagull, willow grouse

Willow Grouse

The Willow Ptarmigan , also known as the Willow Grouse, is a bird of the grouse subfamily. It is a sedentary species, breeding in birch and other forests and moorlands in the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada, in particular the province of Newfoundland and Labrador...

, dunlin

Dunlin

The Dunlin, Calidris alpina, is a small wader, sometimes separated with the other "stints" in Erolia. It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions. Birds that breed in northern Europe and Asia are long-distance migrants, wintering south to Africa, southeast Asia and the Middle East...

, etc. The lakes of Braslav are rich with different kinds of fish.
Pike perch, bream, white bait, tench

Tench

The tench or doctor fish is a freshwater and brackish water fish of the cyprinid family found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also found in Lake Baikal...

, whitefish are widely spread. Eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

 is of especial value.
Widely spread are bore, roe, squirrel, brown and white hare, fox, raccoon, wolf, marten, otter, mink.

See also

• List of national parks of Belarus
• Republic of Belarus
• Belavezhskaya Pushcha