Belarus

Belarus (Беларусь in Belarusian) is situated in north-eastern Europe, and has a total area of about 207,600 square kilometres.  It is bordered to the west by Poland, to the north-west by Lithuania and Latvia, by the Russian Federation to the north and east, and to the south by the Ukraine.  For further details, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus. 

The country consists of two main geographical areas.  In the south of the country is a mainly flat, low-lying, marshy plain, drained by the rivers Pripyat and Dnieper.  

The northern part of the country consists of upland areas - the Belarusian Ridge.  This is a series of terminal moraines, stretching for some 500 kilometres from west-south-west in the Brest region (near the Polish frontier) to east-north-east in the Smolensk region in Russia.  The main ranges of hills in Belarus on the Belarusian Ridge are, from south-west to north-east:

·        Hrodna Upland

·        Vaúkavysk Upland

·        Navahrudak Upland

·        Ašmena Upland

·        Buivydžų Upland

·        Minsk Upland

·        Daugava and Vitebsk-Nevel Upland

·        Dnieper Upland

·        Orsha Upland

·        A small range of uplands on the eastern frontier with Russia.  

The country consists of some 40% forest, and is dotted with many lakes and ponds. 

Access to the country is restricted for foreigners, and visas are hard to obtain.  You are advised to contact the Belarusian embassy in your country for further information.  The Belarusian Embassy in the UK has its website at http://www.uk.belembassy.org/, with visa details and links to accredited travel agencies here.

The highest and most prominent hill in Belarus is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (originally known as Gora Svyataya), in the Minsk Upland.  This has a height of 345 metres, and a prominence of c.185 metres.      

 There are eleven hills in the country that have at least 100 metres of prominence. 

 Lists of the hills of at least 100 metres of prominence are downloadable below.

 Hills listed here:

• The P100m Hills of Belarus – downloadable leaflet below.

• Hills of Belarus to 100m of drop/prominence, arranged by upland area - downloadable list below.