Where and what is Naliboki Forest?

Naliboki Forest is a wide stretch of forests and wetlands along the Biarezina River, about 45 kilometres from Minsk. To the east of the river the forest spreads far and deep; to the west it is narrower. In the south and south‑west it leans toward the valley of the Nioman, and beyond that valley the landscape quickly turns agricultural. The northern edge is softer and less defined: the forest continues far along the Biarezina, and toward the north‑east it meets the valley of the Islach River. Administratively, this whole region lies across several districts of the Minsk and Hrodna regions of Belarus.

If we look only at the semi‑natural core – forests, swamps, and wild meadows – the area is about 1.71 thousand square kilometres. If we include the forest-rural mosaic around it, the landscapes that still feel like part of the same natural whole, the area grows to about 2.75 thousand square kilometres. One of the striking things about Naliboki Forest is how clearly it is framed by farmland. You can walk for hours through quiet, wild terrain, and then suddenly see the line where the forest ends and the fields begin. It feels both vast and understandable at the same time.

Naliboki forest on the map of Belarus

General map of Naliboki Forest

Yet when I asked people – even those living just 10-20 kilometres from the forest – where Naliboki Forest was, the answers were surprisingly vague. Many Minsk residents, including biologists, could only say “somewhere near Naliboki, Ivianiets, or Valozhyn.” Some remembered that it was a big forest with drained swamps along the western Biarezina. That was closer to the truth, but still not quite it. In my home village of Haradzishcha, east of Minsk, most people couldn’t point in the right direction at all. They knew the forest was huge, swampy, and famous for samahonka, the local moonshine – but not where it actually lay. Only my neighbour Anatol’ Dychkin, whose wife was from near Ivianiets, answered confidently.

People who live inside or right next to the forest usually see it more clearly. Villagers on the left bank of the Nioman say simply: “It’s right there, behind the river.” People near Mir and Karelichy insist that the forest begins right where they stand – and they are not wrong, because the forested wetlands along the Nioman form a natural corner of Naliboki Forest. In the central and northern parts, locals point to the visible forest edge and the beginning of the bottomlands: “That is Naliboki Forest.” In the north‑east and south‑east the borders blur, because the woodlands merge with other large forests. Many people asked me whether the place where we stood was already part of Naliboki Forest, and reacted with real curiosity to the answer. There was something almost humorous in these conversations: the forest stretches so far that its borders feel both obvious and elusive.

Another layer of complexity comes from old local names. Many villagers said that Naliboki Forest was near the village of Naliboki, while the forest around them had its own name – Vishniava Forest, Piarshai Forest, Dzialiatychy Forest, Hrafski Forest, and many others. Most of these names go back centuries. Over time they came to refer to parts of the same forest–wetland system that later became known as Naliboki Forest, Zanioman Forest, or, in the 16th century, Mikalayew Forest. Some once‑famous forests, like Khatava and Dzierawnaya, have almost disappeared: their vast woodlands were cut down and turned into farmland. But even there the landscape still holds a mosaic of fields and forest patches.

Some answers were even more unexpected. Quite a few people insisted that the nearby forest was not Naliboki Forest at all, but the forest of Vajnilawshchyna, and behind it lay Karytsishcha, and farther still Kryvukha. This reflects a simple truth: many villagers lived their whole lives within a very small radius – no farther than a horse‑drawn cart could take them. When I asked about hamlets like Mil’va Biarezina or Darahun’, which lie deeper inside the forest, people often said they had heard of them but believed they were “too far” to be part of the same forest. Interestingly, some residents of Kliatsishcha and Vajnilawshchyna still called the whole forest around them Mikalayew Forest – the old historical name their grandparents used.

Below you can see several habitats of Naliboki Forest – some unique, some typical, all part of the quiet, living landscape that makes this region what it is.