A primary archetype in literature illustrates that when a
character enters the woods, said character emerges a changed person. I think 11
lives emerged changed from the forest thanks to the magic, knowledge, and
genius of Vadim and Irina.
When I first approached Vadim about the possibility of hosting a
student trip, he was in favor of the idea. Of course, he hadn't led a trip with
students in high school before, especially for a multi-day trip. He was a bit
uncertain about some things. We discussed logistics over a few months and made
sure sleeping arrangements, itineraries, behavior expectations, and general
safety were all addressed.
In all, 9 students, ages 14 to 18, and 2 chaperones packed their
backpacks and slipped into their shiny, new rubber boots and embarked on a
short trip of a lifetime. Upon our arrival at the field station, Vadim and
Irina would begin their work, which would include hosting, cooking, and guiding
us each day. We would be there for a total of 4 days, but it felt like many
weeks due to the vast variety of experiences we had in that short period of
time. Immersion into a titillating five days of sensory delights would be our
lot.
I want to add a pertinent note: as a seasoned African safari
participant, this trip rivaled some of the best safaris I've witnessed. The
sheer volume and diversity of experiences and knowledge we received were
unrivaled. We are forever indebted to Vadim and Irina and the rest of his
wonderful family for providing an education and experience unlike any other.
Our students will never forget; I will never forget.
Day 1: arrival of the city folk
We arrived on a Wednesday evening after an arduous day
of school work and daily routines and travel into the forest. Our bright red
and unsightly shuttle finally found its way to Vadim's field station--GPS
coordinates, or Vadim's instructions, are necessary as even the local people
living nearby don't know where our final destination might be located. It was
our driver’s first trek out to Vadim and Irina's paradise.
At last, the parking break set into place, our feet met the
hallowed ground of the Naliboki forest, and we met the warm embrace of Vadim
and Irina. For the students, there were introductions, settling into sleeping
arrangements, basic orientation of the field station, and then dinner. The food
provided by Irina was healthy, tasty, and filling. It's simple, and it's
exactly what people need for their treks into the forest. During dinner, Vadim
provided a safety briefing for the students. Their eyes popped in sudden fear
at the thought of adders roaming the premises. After a harrowing story from
Vadim, they worked to hold in their newfound trepidation of falling off a log
and impaling themselves. As their fears subsided as a result of rationally
working through probabilities of accidents and their own efficacy to mitigate
such events, Vadim announced the wake up time for the next morning. It would
be 4:45am. The icing on the cake. I think our students were in shock.
While I had prepared the students for "early" wake up
times, 4:45 was a bit of a shock for them.
As one might predict, all that nervousness
mixed with a cocktail of excitement and exhaustion and you've got students
still up chatting at 11pm. This is the definition of a recipe for
disaster. Alas, everyone finally slept and Day 2 would be upon us very early.
Day 2: initial bliss
To the students’ credit, everyone was on time for breakfast
at 4:45am. In fact, for every 4am-5am start during the
week, every student arrived on time. They were resilient. Many had never been
to a forest or had any experience similar to this before. Vadim's field station
and his passion and the general excitement of being there can inspire almost
anyone to rise to the occasion and achieve otherwise superhuman feats.
Off we traversed into the dark, misty morning as a caravan of
three. We took the two, trusty Ladas and a Subaru. We began ranging
by vehicles through the forest. We saw two capercaillie lekking in the forest.
We were able to drive quite close and capture some beautiful photos and video.
We saw many deer as well. Then, we stopped and walked approximately 8
kilometers through the forest. We accompanied Vadim as he checked two camera
traps. He shared with us snippets of his vast knowledge on so many subjects
related to the ecology of the forest and the animals. The students enjoyed the
quiet walks, the sunrise, the wolf toys (the plastic or rubber items they find
and turn into markings or play things for pups or as a sign of accomplishment).
The students had their first introductions to walking through some marsh. They
enjoyed it thoroughly. Some said the difficulty of navigating the thick mud and
water was a highlight of the trip; such is the child-like joys and preferences
we all need to revisit in our “adult” lives.
On our way back to the field station for lunch, we turned a
corner and spotted two wolves. Yes, there were two wolves on the road waiting
like gift-wrapped figurines in a tourist shop. I should clarify the
"our" and "we" I keep using: only the first car saw the
wolves and no one was able to capture the moment on any camera. The wolves of
the Naliboki forest are lightning rods and ghosts all in one package. Good luck
finding them. Indeed, we had luck. Unfortunately, we couldn't move quickly
enough to capture it. Two students, Vadim, and a teacher all saw their first
wild wolves. The students were charged up and hungry for lunch.
After lunch, we had the opportunity to relax in the forest and
be on the lookout for beavers or otters at particular look out points. Our team
was split into two groups. One group looked for animals closer to the field
station and walked back in the evening before dinner when they were done. The
other group was further away and was picked up around 9pm. Essential
to our success was absolute, unadulterated silence. For students and groups,
this is no small feat. Indeed, it was a colossal achievement that our students
could remain silent, absolutely muted, for many hours. I convinced some to do
as I had and capture the audio of the bird's choruses on their phones. It's
like capturing a bottle of the forest and taking it home with you. Often, I go
about my work listening to background sounds of the jungles or forests of my
safaris in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Tanzania. Now Belarus is added to my
mixes.
The group that was further out from the field station and
looking for beaver decided to break up the sitting and watching with a
self-guided tour along the river. They stumbled upon a beaver leaping into the
river. The beaver exploded into the air off the bank and shot into the river
not to be seen again. Moments such as these, helped the students become
increasingly aware of the shyness of the animals and unpredictability of any
moment in this enchanted forest.
After all the excitement of day 1, students
were ready for dinner and sleep. It would be another early rise the next day.
Day 3: big things and small things
Early rise, breakfast, students becoming
accustomed to the routine, and the rumble of the Lada engines all greeted the
morning.
We began the day by driving for about an hour to find bison. It
was a beautiful, misty, crisp morning. We arrived at a spot to find 5 bison
bulls grazing in a bright green field. We remained there for about a half hour
observing the bison and their interactions with each other. We even saw them
cross a canal, so there was some action and interesting behavior to see. It's
incredible to see truly wild bison; there are so few remaining in the world.
Big things to be seen and big things were in store for the students.
Then, we drove for nearly two hours across continuous and
glorious forest. While there seemed to be more liter than in previous visits,
this is still a vast and mostly-unscarred landscape of beauty and
transcendence. If our students return next year, we may include a cleanup day
where we devote most or all of that day to clearing as any liter we find; if
only more people respected the most precious gifts we've been given. Vadim is
the champion of this forest and his very life's purpose is in full devotion to
its immutable state as an untouched and protected landscape.
We concluded this drive at an old hamlet where a stork colony
resides. We saw many old oak trees (at least 300 years old) and many stork
nests. Instead, we observed the storks interact with each other, playing,
toying, mating, talking (or better described as manic chattering). It was
otherworldly. It was like a movie set for a surreal Tim Burton film. The curves
of the oaks, the overgrown lawns, the abandoned hamlet homes, the weary, leaning
fences, deep shadows in abandoned doorways, the enormous nests.
We then visited a second stork colony and ended
with lunch along a wetland where a myriad of birds thrive. Several students
cited that lunch as a highlight. There was something about the warmth of the
sun, the delicious food, the indelible stories from Vadim, and the solidarity
of being together in nature and resting were all elements of this moment that
percolated to the forefront of our memories.
The page wasn't closed on the day just yet. We
then visited the old growth. This forest is 300 years old and contains many
multi-hundred-year-old oak trees. Some of these trees require 5-6 students
stretched out at arm's length to reach around the base of the tree. The garlic
grass so rich and thick, the gentle rain softly pitter-pattering above in the
canopy of the trees, the litany of wild flowers littering the floor. The
history, the dugouts, the beauty of the flora were an overwhelming, collective
sensation throughout our time in the old growth.
We returned to the field station to offer rest to the students.
After dinner, we went out under a nearly-full moon to make wolf calls with
Vadim. Forget the fiction tales you've read; the real thing is an all-consuming
sensory experience. A moon, in the dead of night, and the recorded cries of
wolves echoing for kilometers on end. It was a glorious day 2.
Day 4: are you kidding me?
This day felt like an African safari, only with an added wealth of information that comes from traversing the forest with Vadim. A seemingly endless parade of animal encounters would be our fate this day.
There was one moment where all three vehicles,
all within ear-shot of each other, had a different wildlife sighting. Truly
unbelievable.
The plan for the day was to range through the
forest by vehicle and foot to see a wolf home, camera traps, and anything
interesting roaming the intermittent open fields.
We began by seeing many deer (Roe and Red). Then, we saw a fox.
It sat there in the road, calmly, staring at us and warming in the morning sun.
It was a most pleasant sighting. You could nearly hear the fox say, "Good
morning, everyone. I wish you well today. If you don't mind, I'll get back to
my sun bathing." Indeed, we left the fine fox to his business and went
about ours.
A few minutes later, Vadim spotted it far away in the
distance--a wolf! It was our third sighting of a wolf in three days! This
time, however, instead of it being a few seconds and then gone, escaping into
the woods, the wolf remained in the open for about 10 minutes. It was a black
wolf (dark brown in the morning light) and it was curious about us. We stopped
for some photos and then Vadim decided to try and approach closer to see how it
might react. We were approximately 1 kilometer away. As we approached, the wolf
decided to approach us as well, significantly closing the gap between us. It
was such odd behavior from the wolf. Its curiosity superseded its instinct
to run. At least, for a while.
Finally, we stopped and a couple of us gently
opened the vehicle doors to quietly get out for photos. Eventually, it decided
we were not the kind of company he should associate with and danced off into
the woods.
We were in awe! My students, having not experienced any such
trip or wildlife photography excursion before, didn't realize the extreme
rarity of our sighting. They were excited to be sure; I was breathless. This
was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Someday, I think the students will
realize just how unfathomable this sighting was for 3 vehicles and 13 people.
To have such a long and intimate encounter with a wild wolf is unprecedented.
As fate would have it, this was only the beginning to a glorious
day. We went on to see a female capercaillie within 5 meters of our vehicle,
moose, two more foxes, many eagles, countless deer, and so much more. There was
a moment, where one car was seeing an eagle, another car was driving alongside
two separate greater spotted eagles, and a third car was viewing one species of
eagle fight another. We felt so blessed to voluminous experiences of this kind.
Later, we visited the dugouts for the Jewish partisans in the
forest--one such place upon which the movie “Defiance” is predicated. We
learned more about setting a camera trap and why and where. We visited a wolf
resting place where a large moose leg had been brought to the pregnant mother
as a gift. It wasn’t a spiritual experience but it was surreal to be, for
a short time, within the home of these mystical creatures without disrupting
their lives.
We ended the day with a self-directed walk,
banyas, showers, and dinner. Vadim joked of being able to offer a bear and
lynx sighting the next morning. Given our fortunes, nothing seemed impossible.
I found myself reflecting in bed before passing out in exhaustion. I recall
whispering over and over, "Are you kidding me? How was today even
possible?"
Day 5: all good things...
All good things come to an end. We had only a
half day remaining. Vadim took us out on a beautiful walk in the morning
sunrise. We were greeted by the usual melodic symphony of the birds and the
fresh air. Along the way, we saw a beaver, some deer, a moose, and an elk. We
ended the day by doing one last drive that included deer and eagle
sightings.
Then, as many who have visited Vadim have come
to understand, we enjoyed a lecture permeated in intriguing facts and visceral
details about the Belorussian people and the forest's history. He has conducted
extensive research and possesses extensive knowledge of the Belarusian way of
life in the past and the flora and fauna of the Naliboki forest in the present.
His lectures are a gift, a labor of love given to the listener.
~~~~~~
Simply put, as much as a mere human being can be a hero to
another, Vadim is a hero of mine. He opened my eyes to Belarus' past, to its
people, to its generosity, to its forests, and to its animals. After three
years of living in Belarus and after meeting so many wonderful people in and
around Minsk, I cherish my relationship with Vadim, Irina, and their
family.
