Last week I wrote about the Unesco Worldheritage sites in the Netherlands. Since yesterday the Wadden Sea is officially appointed as a Worldheritage site too. This is the first nature site of Worldheritage in the Netherlands.
The Wadden Sea is a truly unique habitat in the world. There is no other place in the world with such a dynamic landscape which is so wide and with so much variety as a result of the changing tides. The landscape changes daily. An extensive system of channels and gullies are interspersed with tight sandbanks. You will find mussel beds, nutritious slikwad, vast salt marshes, beaches and dunes but also here and there some waving sea grass. This variation of landscapes is what makes the Wadden Sea a unique habitat. The Wadden Sea is a vital stopover for millions of birds during their trek and more than 10,000 rare plant and animal species find a home here.
"The Wadden Sea (Dutch: Waddenzee, German: Wattenmeer, Low German: Wattensee, Danish: Vadehavet, West Frisian: Waadsee) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity.
The Wadden Sea stretches from Den Helder in the Netherlands in the southwest, past the great river estuaries of Germany to its northern boundary at Skallingen north of Esbjerg in Denmark along a total length of some 500 km and a total area of about 10,000 km².
The islands in the Wadden Sea are called the Wadden Islands or Frisian Islands, named after the Frisians. However, on the westernmost Dutch island, Texel, the Frisian language has not been spoken for centuries. The Danish Wadden Sea Islands have never been inhabited by Frisians. The outlying German island of Heligoland, although ethnically one of the Frisian Islands, is not situated in the Wadden Sea." (Wikipedia)
The best and most spectacular way to explore this beautiful habitat is mudflat hiking (Dutch: Wadlopen). Although mudflat hiking is not dangerous you should only explore the habitat with an experienced guide on your side. They use a detailed tide table to be able to use a period of low water to walk on the watershed of the mudflats. The guide will bring a first aid kit, communication gear (satellite) and a long stick so he can feel how deep a gully is. The guide will explain about the Wadden Sea tides, the musselbanks, birds, seals, little living stuff in the sand and you can even taste some fresh sea grass.
When walking there you experience nature at its best. You have beautiful wide views, feel the sea breeze and if you are lucky you will see seals resting on the sand. Be prepared to cross some gullies through the water. The water will come at your waist or slightly above and you feel your legs being sucked into the mud. You feel the mud even above your knees. Because of the mud it is important to wear shoes which you cannot loss easily in the mud. The Converse All Stars type shoes are best for mudflat hiking. You can buy similar shoes for about 10 Euro when you go for the hike. Watch out you don't slip in the mud! But definately one of your group will do so as it's very slippery from time to time.
If you want to go by daytrip from Amsterdam I suggest you go to Pieterburen. It is a 1,5 hr drive to Pieterburen, you can spend the day there mudflat hiking, visite the seal rehabilitation and research centre and then relax with nice dinner before you go back to Amsterdam.
This is the website for mudflat hiking, which is in Dutch only: http://www.wadlopen-pieterburen.nl/
If you want more information you can contact them on number 0031 (0) 595-528 558 or via email info@beleef-Pieterburen.nl
