Wild Belarus Tour | Adventurous Tour in Europe's Hidden Gem | Pyala Travel - Travel Program

Day 1 Arrival Minsk

Arrival at Minsk National Airport, meeting with your guide and transfer to a hotel. You can already start exploring Minsk. This city is fast moving foreward, from a dull Soviet city it has now become a very pleasant, vibrant city. Due to the political situation in Belarus, where as one of the few countries, all the old Soviet elements have not been removed, but are still being restored, you can look here for the old Soviet past. Lenin is still on its pedestal, the streets are still named after Lenin, Marx and English, the hammer and sickle are visible in many buildings. Along the Praspect Niezaleznasci (Independence Avenue) an enormous amount of Stalinist architecture. And many monuments that recall the Great Patriotic War (the Second World War).

Looking for hipster Minsk? Then go to Oktiabrskaja street. A district with old abandoned factories, now filled with breweries, hip cafes, mobile restaurants and art galleries. You'll also find a lot of street art here, many walls are painted with beautiful murals.

Day 2 Minsk / kayaking

Today you start with your alternative exploration of Minsk. You will be brought to a river at about an hour's drive outside of Minsk. Here you can relax by kayaking, a simple 4-5 hour trip through the beautiful nature. Slowly but surely you sail from nature into the city. A lunch is included and at the end of the day you can (optionally) relax your muscles in a traditional banya (sauna).
ps. take into account that you have to lift the canoe a few times over a bridge or other obstacle (of course the guide will help you with this).
In the afternoon you can explore Minsk on your own or choose one of the offers from our excursion offer. 

Day 3 Minsk - Zabrodye

Today it's back to Soviet times, you are going to spend the night in a dacha. In Soviet times it was very common for inhabitants of the big city to have a country house. Here they could escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city, but also from control. They could also grow their own food and freely meet their friends and family and talk to each other and cook together.

You travel to a dacha, about 95 kilometers outside Minsk. This old farm is located in the beautiful village of Zabrodye, in the district of Vileika and the Natochanka River. Here you can enjoy the traditional Belarusian country life. The owners try to keep this tradition alive and to preserve as much of the old habits as possible. Also a lot of attention is paid to the past and collecting nostalgia (think old furniture / utensils and Soviet cars), also history lovers will love this place. The farm is located on the old German-Russian front line from the First World War. Many artifacts have been found in the surrounding meadows and are now collected in a small museum. This museum is housed in an old church and an old train carriage.

Day 4 Zabrodye - Naliboki

Wake up slowly in the morning in the silence of the village. Maybe you want to go for a walk or a canoe trip? Then you drive to the Naliboki forest.
Once off the main road you drive on dirt roads further, deep into the forest, until you arrive at the place where you spend the night and the guide lives with his family.

Day 5 Naliboki

Today, you will go on a trip with one of the world's leading wolf experts. Vadim lives in the middle of the Naliboki forest and has been studying the behaviour of wolves for 30 years. His wife Irina is just as passionate and specialized in the life of badgers. 
It is not only wolves and badgers that live here, the Naliboki forest is also home to bison, elks, lynxes, deer, otters, beavers, black storks, many owls, various species of woodpeckers, grouse, cranes, nightjar and other birds. You get up in the morning and go on safari to spot big game. At the same time you will learn to discover tracks and Vadim will tell you all about the ecosystem of the forest. During the day, you will go on hikes through the forest, to take part in the many camera traps, which are placed in the forest. At the end of the afternoon another safari.
The chance to spot wildlife is not guaranteed, but very good. Depending on the season, the chance of which animals is obviously different. For example, the chance of seeing wolves and lynxes in the winter months is higher and the chance of seeing otters and beavers in the summer months is higher.

Day 6 Naliboki - Brest

In the morning you will leave for Brest for a long day of travel. This city is located near Poland and the Ukraine and therefore has the international atmosphere of a border town. You will visit the impressive fortress of Brest, which played an important role in the Second World War. The fort was built in the 19th century and became an important bastion of the Russians in the fight against the Germans. Here the Germans invaded the Soviet empire, despite the non-aggression treaty between Hitler and Stalin. The Nazis had planned to take the fort within 8 hours, but the soldiers eventually held out for 8 days.
In the evening you can walk along Saveckaja Street, full of cozy restaurants and cafes.

Day 7 Brest - Pripyat National park

A long day of travel will take you through the Polesia region. This is an ethnographic region that stretches from western Poland through southern Belarus to Russia. Also the northern part of the Ukraine (located around the Pripyat river) belongs to this region. The area has been very isolated for many centuries, because of its swamps, situated around the Pripyat river.

From Brest you drive to Pinsk, the largest city in the region and then via all kinds of small villages further to the nature reserve of Pripyat. You stay here in a beautifully situated hotel on the Pripyat river.

Day 8 Pripyat - Khoiniki

In the morning you will visit the Pripyat reserve. You will make a boat trip through the system of waterways and hopefully you can spot many birds.
In the afternoon you will travel to the small town of Khoiniki. This town is located on the border with the Ukraine and is the gateway to the exclusion zone of Chernobyl, the PSRER. The town itself is a typical Belarusian town, with Lenin on the central square proudly on his pedestal, the workers of the month are exhibited a little further away. 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 kolkhoz and sowhoz's. In the town itself you can visit a museum dedicated to the Chernobyl disaster.

Day 9 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 greatest nuclear disasters in the world, the consequences of which are still not entirely foreseeable. Not at all at the time. Initially, the reaction of the administrators was mainly defensive, but the seriousness of the disaster was soon recognised. A few days later, the city of Pripyat and its surroundings were evacuated.
Now, more than 30 years later, Pripyat is becoming a tourist attraction (partly due to the HBO film about Chernobyl). It is terrifying and fascinating to see, a step back in time. Abandoned cities from the Soviet era in desolate surroundings. 
Much less known is that Belarus was actually the main victim of the disaster, as the wind was directed northwards and the nuclear reactor is located 5 kilometers from the border with Belarus. Most of the radioactive precipitation 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 1st of May celebration. After that, the inhabitants of the villages were told to leave the house for three days and to bring only the essentials with them. The authorities knew that these people would never return, but were afraid that if they told them so, the evacuation would be a lot more difficult.
This evacuation zone has become the PSRER, the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve. 
Abandoned since May 1986. And, unlike Pripyat, it only became accessible at the beginning of 2019. Here too, a step back in time, overgrown villages, rusting agricultural machinery, abandoned classrooms, concert halls where the memories of the last 1-May celebration are dusting, a rusty ferry that used to bring passengers to Kiev.

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

You will make a day trip through this area, accompanied by a guide. In an old Soviet van, you will drive through the exclusion zone. You will visit a small museum, some old vehicles used in fighting the disaster, several (overgrown) villages, old factories, the old port, sovkhoz, an old school, the culture house, a watchtower (overlooking Chernobyl). It is a special experience to travel around this disaster area, taking a step back in time.

In the culture house you can still see the memories of the last 5 May celebration in 1986. Ancient Soviet pamphlets, slogans and banners are the silent witnesses of this last celebration. Two days later, the inhabitants were evacuated.

Day 10 Khoiniki / Nature Tour PSRER

The exclusion zone is now also one of the largest nature reserves in Europe. Because no people have come here for more than 30 years, many wild animals have settled here. Bison, wolves, moose, deer, bears, lynxes. This has become a unique area, where nature has gained the upper hand over mankind.
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). Please note 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 11 Mozyr - Minsk

You will return to the capital of Belarus. In the morning you can also take a walk through the city or in the vicinity of the Pripyat river. After that you will drive to Minsk, a trip of about four drives.

Day 12 depart Minsk