Braslaw Lakes ( be, Браслаўскія азёры, tr. ''Braslawskiya azyory''; rus, Браславские озёра, Braslavskiye ozyora) is one of the four national parks in Belarus. The national park was set up in September 1995. It is a unique ecosystem with a number of lakes and a large area of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

forests. It has a total area of about . This includes 30 lakes. Three largest lakes are

Dryvyaty Dryvyaty ( be, Дрывя́ты, lt, Druvetas, pl, Drywiaty) – is a lake in Braslaw District, Vitebsk Region, in Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; ...

(fifth largest in the country),

Snudy Lake Snudy ( be, Снуды́, lt, Snudai) is a freshwater lake in the Braslaw District of Vitebsk Region, northern Belarus, the second largest in the group of Braslaw Lakes and 9th largest in Belarus. References Snudy Lake Snudy ( be, Сн� ...

(ninth largest in the country) and Strusta (sixteenth largest in the country).

Location

The territory of the national park is separate and is in the

Braslaw Raion Braslaw District is a district in the Vitebsk Region, Belarus. Its administrative centre is Braslaw. Braslau Raion is famous for its numerous lakes. The National Park and popular tourist region Braslau Lakes is situated here. The largest lakes a ...

in the northwest of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, near the border with

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. In the north it is adjacent to Belarusian-Latvian border. The park is elongated from southwest to northeast. In this direction it is long and between wide. The total area of the park is . The southern part of the park consists of lowlands covered with forests. Much of the area is occupied by different types of bogs. There are several beautiful forest lakes, including Boginskoye - considered to be one of the most beautiful in the Braslav area. The forests here belong to coniferous-deciduous group, and occupy . One can distinguish the following woodlands: Borunsky, Belmont, Boguinsky, Druiskaya Dacha. Pine woods and fir woods are widespread.

History

Through the latest glacial period, about 18,000-29,000 years ago, the area of Braslav Lakes was covered with vast ice fields, up to several hundred metres thick. As the climate warmed, the ice slowly melted and the limit of the ice moved north. This complex process shaped the characteristic features of the nature of Poozerye with its hilly relief and lakes.

Geography

There is a network of 30 connected large and small lakes, spread over an area of . The biggest lakes are Drivyaty, Snudy, Strusto, Voiso, Volosovo, Nedrovo, Nespish, and Berezhe. This group of lakes makes up the core of the Braslav Lakes National Park.

Animals and plants

Of the rare species listed in the Belarusian Red Book, the area is the home of the

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

, and

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

. The swan was almost extinct in this area but now inhabits the Braslav lakes. Other native species include the

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

common crane The common crane (''Grus grus''), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') and the Siberi ...

, silver seagull,

willow grouse The willow ptarmigan () (''Lagopus lagopus'') is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where the subspecies '' L. l. scotica'' was previ ...

, and

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown ...

. The lakes of Braslav are rich with different kinds of fish.

Pike perch ''Sander'' (formerly known as ''Stizostedion'') is a genus of predatory ray-finned fish in the family Percidae, which also includes the perches, ruffes, and darters. They are also known as "pike-perch" because of their resemblance to fish in th ...

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', ''Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', ''Lepo ...

, whitebait,

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

, whitefish are widespread.

Eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

is of special value. Also widespread are boar, roe deer, squirrel, brown and white hare, fox, raccoon, wolf, marten, otter, and mink.

References

External links