The forests are treasure houses of natural diversity. Blackberries, wild strawberries, blueberries and other berry bushes cover the wooded territories like a thick carpet. Marshlands are rich in cranberries. Mushrooms are also plentiful. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the most mature forest area in Belarus, and among the oldest in Europe.
Forest areas intermingle with large river valleys and numerous lakes varying greatly in size.
Belarus has 20,800 rivers and streams, only 3,000 of which are more than 5 kilometers in length. They flow between the Baltic and Black Sea basins. Rivers that begin in one location but flow separately through different basins have been united by canals. The Dnieper, Pripyat, Berezina, Sozh, Zapadnaya Dvina, Nieman and Viliya are the biggest rivers, with more than 500 kilometers in length. Rivers are more frequent in the North than in the South.