The marshes of the Pripet (Prypjats’) River in Polesia in southern Belarus contain beautiful oak groves, although many fewer than before the ecologically disastrous Soviet draining of much of the marshland, the so-called “amelioration”, in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In “ameliorated” areas one sometimes sees isolated surviving oaks, stalwart figures like the one in today’s photo, a beloved point of reference on the road west of Turau. In his metaphorical story “The Tree of Eternity” (“Дрэва вечнасьці“), the great Belarusan author Uladzimer Karatkjevich described his search through Polesia for a mighty oak which had survived the depredations of time and policy.
Oak tree in spring flood, Varonina 2010/Дуб у разводзьдзі, Вароніна 2010 год
