Belarus Wildlife Tour | Explore the forests and marshes of Belarus with Pyala Travel - Travel Program

Day 1 arrival Minsk

Arrival at Minsk National Airport, meet your guide and transfer to a hotel.
You will be welcomed and immediately get to know Belarusian cuisine. Together with a guide you go to a local restaurant, where you are offered a traditional meal. Of course you will eat one of the most famous dishes in Belarus - draniki (potato pancakes)!

And of course you discuss your journey for the coming days with your local guide.

Day 2 Minsk - Belovezhskaya Puscha

You leave Minsk for what is one of the highlights of every visit to Belarus, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Park. This park is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The park, located on the border with Poland, consists of the last primeval forests of Europe with oak trees of 500 years old and 250 different animal species. The most striking is the zubr, or the European bison, the largest mammal in Europe.

At the entrance of the park is a small museum dedicated to the history, flora and fauna of this park. There is also an animal park where you can see the animals living in the park.

If you want to explore the park yourself, you can take one of the walking tours, or rent a bike and follow a cycle route. You can also get a tour of the park by car.

If you want to see bisons in the wild, these are best spotted in the winter months. Then they come from deep in the woods more to the center of the park in search for food.
It is also possible (in the summer) to book an excursion with a forester (early in the morning), where you will search for grazing herds of bisons. This must be requested in advance.

You sleep in a hotel in the park. From here you can easily make the walking routes and / or cycling tours.

Day 3 BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA - BREST

In the morning you will go to Brest. Brest city is located near the border with Poland and is also quite closely located to Ukraine, combining three different cultures. There you will visit an interesting and big memorial Brest Fortress. It is a very important place for the Soviet resistance. It was built in the middle of the 19th century and became a Hero Fortress for the courageous Soviet soldiers during the fight against the German army in 1941. Nazi’s planned to seize the fortress in 8 hours, but it stood firm for more than 30 days.

In the evening you can walk along Saveckaja Street. It’s translated to English as Soviet Street, but for your surprise you won’t see there any Soviet reminders. But you can find there many cute shops, coffee spots and bars and in the evening you will witness a very special and old ritual of lighting the lanterns. You will stay for a night in a hotel in Brest city.

Day 4 Brest - Pripyat National park

A long travel day takes you through the Polesia region. This is an ethnographic region that stretches from western Poland through the south of Belarus to Russia. The northern part of Ukraine (located around the Pripyat river) is also part of this.
The area has been very isolated for centuries, because it wasa huge swampy area, located around the Pripyat river. Many marshes were reclaimed only in the last century, but it is still a region with its own unique character. You will find, among other things, many beautiful wooden churches.

From Brest you drive to Pinsk, the largest city in the region and then through all kinds of small villages to the nature reserve of Pripyat.

You will spend the night here in a beautifully situated hotel on the Pripyat River.

Day 5 Pripyat - Khoiniki

In the morning you will visit the Pripyat reserve. You make a boat trip through the system of waterways and hopefully you can spot many birds.

You travel to the small town of Khoiniki. This town is near the border with the Ukraine and is the gateway to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the PSRER. The town itself is a typical Belarusian town, with Lenin in the central square still proud on its pedestal, the workers of the month are exhibited a little further on. In the town itself old apartment buildings with soviet slogans, interspersed with old wooden houses. As soon as you leave the town you will see the signs of old kolchozes and sowchozes (collective farms from soviet times).
In the town itself you can visit a museum dedicated to the Chernobyl disaster.

Dag 6 Khoiniki / visit PSRER

On 26 April 1986 the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine) took place. One of the biggest nuclear disasters in the world, the consequences of which are still not completely known. At the time not at all. Initially, the administrators mainly responded in denial, but the seriousness of the disaster was soon recognized. The city of Pripyat and surrounding area was evacuated a few days later.

Now, more than 30 years later, Pripyat is becoming a tourist attraction (partly due to the HBO film about Chernobyl). It is therefore horrifying and fascinating to see, a step back in time. Abandoned ghost cities from the Soviet era in a desolate environment.

Much less known is the fact that Belarus was actually the major victim of the disaster, since the wind was pointing north and the nuclear reactor is located 5 kilometers from the border with Belarus. Most of the radioactive precipitation has ended up here.
Here too an entire area was evacuated, with dozens of villages. But only a few days later, they did not want to disturb the May 1st celebration. Then the inhabitants of the villages were told to leave the house for three days and to take only the most necessary things. The authorities knew that those people would never return, but were afraid that if they told them, the evacuation would be a lot harder.

This evacuation zone has become the PSRER, the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve.
Abandoned since May 1986. And, unlike Pripyat, only became accessible since the beginning of 2019. Here, too, a step back in time, overgrown villages, rusting away agricultural machinery, abandoned classrooms, concert halls where the memories of the last May 1 celebration are dusting, a rusting ferry that previously brought passengers to Kiev.

But also, one of the largest nature reserves in Europe. Because no people have been coming here for over 30 years, many wild animals have settled here. Bison, wolves, moose, deer, bears, lynx. This has become a unique area where nature has gained the upper hand over man.

The area is barely visited yet, less than 100 foreigners have been here in 2019. But just like Pripyat and Chernobyl on the other side of the border, it all has the potential to become a major draw. The radiation to which you are exposed during a visit of several hours is comparable to that of an intercontinental flight.

You make a day trip through this area, accompanied by a guide. You drive through the exclusion zone in an old Soviet van. You will visit a small museum, a few old vehicles used to combat the disaster, various (overgrown) villages, old factories, the old port, collective farms, an old school, the culture house, a watchtower (with a view of Chernobyl). It is a memorable experience to travel through this disaster area, taking a step back in time.

The memories of the last May 5 celebration from 1986 are still visible in the cultural center. Old Soviet pamphlets, slogans, banners are the silent witnesses of this last celebration. Two days later the inhabitants were evacuated.

Day 7 Khoiniki / wild life tour PSRER

The exclusion zone is now also one of the largest nature reserves in Europe. Because no people have been coming here for over 30 years, many wild animals have settled here. Bison, wolves, moose, deer, bears, lynx. This has become a unique area where nature has gained the upper hand over man.
In the morning you will go on safari through this area in search of large game and birds (including black storks and various birds of prey). Keep in mind that in the winter months you are much more likely to spot wildlife.

In the afternoon you will travel to Mozyr to spend the night there.

Day 8 Mozyr - Naliboki

A travel day. You return to the central part of WIt-Russia. From Mozir you drive to Minsk and then it is a good hour's drive to the Naliboki forest. Once off the main road you continue on dirt roads, deep into the forest, until you arrive at the place where you spend the night and the guide lives with his family.

Day 9 Naliboki Forest

In the coming days you will set off with one of the most prominent wolf experts in the world. Vadim lives in the middle of the Naliboki forest and has been studying the behavior of wolves for 30 years. His wife Irina is just as passionate and specialized in the life of badgers.
However, it is not only wolves and badgers that live here, the Naliboki forest is also home to bison, moose, lynx, deer, otters, beavers, black storks, many owl species, various woodpeckers, black grouse, cranes, night swallows and other birds.

You rise early in the morning and go on safari to spot large game. At the same time you learn to discover traces and Vadim tells everything about the forest's ecosystem. During the day you take walks through the forest, to go through the many camera traps that are placed in the forest.
Another safari at the end of the afternoon. The chance to spot game is not guaranteed, but it is very big. Depending on the season, the chance of which animals is of course different. For example, the chance of seeing wolves and lynx in the winter months is greater and the chance of otters and beavers is greater in the summer months.

Day 10 Naliboki Forest

Another nature day in the Naliboki forest. During the day you will attend presentations about the forest and its flora and fauna. You can also read yourself among other things in the various books in the small library. Or enjoy a cup of herbal tea around the campfire.

Day 11 Naliboki - Minsk

Return trip to Minsk. A last day to explore the capital of Belarus.

Day 12 depart Minsk