Famous Russians

Julia sent me this card with photos of famous Russians.

Braslau Lakes

Braslau Lakes is one of the four national parks in Belarus. The National Park was set up in September 1995. It is a unique ecosystem with a number of lakes and a large area of pine forests. It has a total area of about 700 km² (270 square miles). This includes 30 lakes. Three largest lakes are Dryvyaty (fifth largest in the country),  Snudy (ninth largest in the country) and Strusta (sixteenth largest in the country).

The territory of the National Park is separate and is in the Braslaw Raion in the northwest of Belarus, near the border with Lithuania. In the north it is adjacent to Belarusian-Latvian border. The park is elongated from southwest to northeast. In this direction it is 55 km (34 miles) long and between 5 km and 29 km (3 to 18 miles) wide. The total area of the park is 69,100 hectares or about 270 square miles. The southern part of the park consists of lowlands covered with forests. Much of the area is occupied by different types of bogs. There are several beautiful forest lakes, including Boginskoye - considered to be one of the most beautiful in the Braslav area. The forests here belong to coniferous-deciduous group, and occupy 31,000 hectares (120 square miles). One can distinguish the following woodlands: Borunsky, Belmont,  Boguinsky,  Druiskaya Dacha. Pine woods and fir woods are widespread.

There is a network of 30 connected large and small lakes, spread over an area of 114 km² (44 square miles). The biggest lakes are Drivyaty, Snudy, Strusto, Voiso, Volosovo, Nedrovo, Nespish, and Berezhe. This group of lakes makes up the core of the Braslav Lakes National Park.

Of the rare species listed in the Belarusian Red Book, the area is the home of the badger, lynx, brown bear, and swan. The swan was almost extinct in this area but now inhabits the Braslav lakes. Other native species include the black stork, common crane, silver seagull, willow grouse, and dunlin. The lakes of Braslav are rich with different kinds of fish. Pike perch, bream, whitebait, tench, whitefish are widespread. Eel is of special value. Also widespread are boar, roe deer, squirrel, brown and white hare, fox, raccoon, wolf, marten, otter, and mink.

Thank you Dear Oksana for this lovely card.

Pineapples in Ciskei

The Pineapple, ananas comosus, was introduced in Southern Africa from Java in about 1660. It is a delicious fruit with a distinctive flavour and a decorative appearance. The cultivation of the plant requires a sub-tropical climate, well-drained sub-soil, regular fertilising and efficient weed control. The Peddie area is Ciskei’s most important pineapple producing region.

The postmark is very appropriately from Peddie a major pineapple producing district. The 8c stamp depicts Spraying of the pineapple fields. Mobile boom sprayers were used for the application of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, as well as fertilisers and growth regulators.

The pineapple fruit consists of more than 100 small coalescent berry like fruit on a central axis. It is cone shaped and owes its name to its superficial resemblance to a pine-cone. Pineapple production in Ciskei is mainly concentrated on the large, juicy Cayenne variety, which were then sent to the canneries and juice factories in the Eastern Cape. Pineapples are packed in cartons for the local fresh fruit market. They are much in demand for their flavour, as well for the valuable vitamins, minerals and fruit-sugar they contain.

Thank you Maria.