A landscape reserve where 18th-century engineering meets World War I military history amid pristine Polesie wetlands. The centerpiece is the Oginski Canal — an ambitious 18th-century waterway that connected the Baltic and Black Sea watersheds, with surviving hydrotechnical locks still visible along its course. Nearby, overgrown German bunkers and blockhouses from the 1915 front line lie hidden in the forest, their dark, humid interiors draped in cobwebs.

The Oginski Canal was built in the 1700s as a revolutionary engineering project to transport timber and grain between the river basins of the Neman (Baltic) and Pripyat (Black Sea). During World War I, this area became a front-line position, and German forces constructed an extensive network of fortifications that survive in remarkably intact condition, slowly being reclaimed by the forest.

The 18th-century Oginski Canal with its surviving locks — accessible by boat on some sections. WWI German bunkers and blockhouses hidden in the forest. The pristine Polesie wetland landscape.

Distance from Minsk: ~260 km (3 hours) via M1 to Ivatsevichi, then Telekhany. Hiking and water excursions available by advance booking through the reserve administration.