Why go
Dutch nature is closely connected with water and land management. The northern Wadden Sea offers a different setting from the saltwater Oosterschelde in the southwest. Inland, the Veluwe shows how woodland can reflect human choices as well as natural processes. Comparing these landscapes gives a more useful starting point than treating all countryside as interchangeable.
The full story
The Dutch Wadden Sea is a landscape of tidal flats and wetlands, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009. Its biological diversity makes the northern coast an important part of the country’s natural history. In the southwest, the Oosterschelde became a national park in 2002. Salt water forms most of its landscape, accompanied by mudflats, meadows and shoals. Marine life and birds provide reasons to look closely at an estuary that can appear at first to be simply open water. Inland landscapes tell a different story. Much Dutch woodland was planted rather than left untouched. In the Veluwe, planting took place on heath and areas of drifting sand, so a wooded view does not necessarily describe an ancient forest. Lakes, dunes, heath and woods broaden the picture further. The country’s nature includes both tidal environments and places strongly shaped by generations of land use.