National parks of Belarus

There are four national parks in Belarus. The Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park is a trans-boundary park between Belarus and Poland. Together parks cover more than 3,300 km2 (1,300 sq mi).

National parks

Name Belarusian name Oblast Area Established
Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park Нацыянальны парк "Белавежская пушча" Brest Oblast and Grodno Oblast 1,500.69 km2 (579.42 sq mi) 1991 (1932)
Braslau Lakes National Park Нацыянальны парк "Браслаўскія азёры" Vitebsk Oblast 691.15 km2 (266.85 sq mi) 1995
Prypyatski National Park Нацыянальны парк "Прыпяцкі" Gomel Oblast 858.41 km2 (331.43 sq mi) 1996
Narachanski National Park Нацыянальны парк "Нарачанскі" Grodno Oblast, Minsk Oblast and Vitebsk Oblast 1,178.00 km2 (454.83 sq mi) 1999

Park entry fees

All parks in Belarus are free.

Reservations

Campgrounds may be reserved in advance. Booking is possible on local websites.

Respect

In short: Leave-no-trace camping is always advised in national parks.

Disturbing wildlife is illegal in a national park. Leave rocks, plants, bones and antlers as you found them. You may need to pack out any rubbish with you when you leave; if there are no latrines in a sensitive location, excrement should be packed out or buried. Anything left behind in the far north may take a very long time to decay, if it's biodegradable at all.

Many parks are in remote or forested locations with essentially no local firefighting capability. A cook stove is preferable to an open camp fire, due to risk of wildfires. Keep any fires small enough to burn to ash before you leave. Never build a fire on moss or Arctic tundra where it can spread underground.

Do not leave markers, messages or other manmade indicators behind; leave the parkland in its natural, untouched state for the next voyager. In some wilderness locations without marked permanent camp sites, leave-no-trace camping is advised.

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