Kalmthoutse Heide

The Kalmthoutse Heide covers around a thousand hectares on the Dutch border, part of a cross-border park of some three thousand seven hundred, and it is one of the largest surviving heaths in Flanders: dry and wet heather, inland sand dunes left by the wind after the medieval clearance of the forest, fens, birch and pine scrub and areas of open sand. It is grazed by sheep and by konik horses to keep the heather from being taken over by scrub. In August and September the ling flowers and the whole heath turns purple, which is when most people come. It is important for birds, with nightjar, woodlark and hobby, and for reptiles including sand lizard and smooth snake. Paths and a visitor centre run from the Kalmthout side.

History

The area was once covered with deciduous forest, but centuries of grazing by cattle and sheep, the cutting of sods for manure and, from the 13th century, the digging of peat for fuel turned it into open heath, and from the 1850s much of the heath around Antwerp was planted with conifers or farmed. As one of the last large heaths, the Belgian part was protected as a landscape as early as 1941, it was listed under the Ramsar Convention in 1986 and as a bird area on 17 October 1988, and in 2001 the reserves on both sides of the border were joined as the De Zoom-Kalmthoutse Heide Cross-Border Park (Wikipedia, De Zoom-Kalmthoutse Heide Cross-Border Park).

What's there

• Heather in flower - the heath turning purple in August and September.
• Inland sand dunes - open sand left after medieval forest clearance.
• Grazing horses and sheep - the stock keeping the heath open.
• Fens and pools - wet hollows among the dry heath.

When to go

August and September for the heather, which is the reason most people come; spring is good for birds. Half a day. It is busy at weekends in heather season. Fire risk closes areas in dry summers.

Good to know

Outside the heather weeks it is a brown heath and less striking. Fire risk closes sections in dry periods. There is little shade. The reserve is popular and the main paths are busy at weekends. Ticks are present.

Nearby

Antwerp is south; the Dutch border and the cross-border park lie north.

Key facts