From wide moors with beautiful views and vast forests to special wetlands. Noord-Brabant is the province with a beautiful nature. It is not for nothing that Brabant is also the only province with no fewer than four national parks that lie (partly) within the provincial borders! The Brabant nature invites you to walk. Nature areas such as the Biesbosch, the Groote Peel and the Loonse and Drunense dunes - the largest drifting sand area in Western Europe - are extremely suitable for this. But also the Kampina, the Oisterwijkse Vennen and Plassen, the Bakelse Bos, the Mastbos, De Strabrechtse Heide, Het Leenderbos and Het Bossche Broek are more than worth a visit. In this large province there are many hiking possibilities. In this large province there are many hiking possibilities.
Province of North Brabant
Geopark Peelhorst en Maasvallei.
The area of the Peelhorst and Maasvallei is unique. Movements in the earth's crust have led to a system of fractures in the soil. This geological phenomenon, which is active to this day, has formed a landscape with horsten (high) and rifts (low).
The Peelhorst and Maasvallei Geopark extends over those areas where the movements of the subsoil along fractures in the landscape have visibly left their mark. In addition to the Peelhorst (the old bed of the Meuse), this is the northern Meuse valley (current bed of the Meuse). The Peelhorst and Maasvallei Geopark encompasses the entire area that can be counted as part of the Peelrand Fault's sphere of influence. It is a large and recognizable area containing nature reserves: De Maashorst, De Stempelberg, De Deurnese Peel, Maria Peel, De Groote Peel, the Meinweg and of course the Wijstgronden. These pointing grounds (with the associated fractures) are very unique and form an important foundation for the Geopark's raison existance.
If you want to explore the area on foot, we recommend the hiking website www.klikprintenwandel.nl. On this site there are many detailed walking routes in this beautiful area.
Grote Peel National Park.
The Groote Peel is a peat bog where peat was once cut. Nowadays it is a bird-rich nature area that is ideally suited for hiking. The area covers more than 1400 hectares and is not intersected by motorways, high-voltage lines or other unsightly infrastructural works. That is quite rare in the Netherlands! De Groote Peel National Park is located on the border of Limburg and North Brabant, in the Meijel - Asten - Nederweert triangle. Standing in the center of the Groote Peel, the church towers of these villages stand out. De Groote Peel is one of the few remnants left over from the immense peat bog that once formed the border between Brabant and Limburg. Now it is a nature reserve of international class, especially renowned for its bird life. Wide and wetland reminds the landscape of the past. At the time it was a place to avoid, now people walk there! Traces of the past can be found everywhere, when diligent workers dug out the peat, 'the black gold of the Peel'.
Nature border park De Groote Heide.
A nature area of 6,000 hectares that consists of different areas in the Netherlands and Belgium that together form the vast nature border park De Groote Heide.
Loonse and Drunense Duinen National Park.
De Loonse and Drunense Duinen National Park is over 3,500 hectares in size and lies between the cities of Tilburg, Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. Since 2002, the Loonse and Drunense Duinen and De Brand, together with small other areas, have formed a national park. The park is very varied. Characteristic are the drifting sands, which are found nowhere else in North-West Europe on such a vast scale. To the south of the dry dunes lies the moist brook and marsh landscape De Brand. Around the drifting sand area are extensive forests such as Landgoed Plantloon with its old stately avenues and characteristic farms. The Hengstven agricultural area is also located in the national park and is now managed in such a way that nature gets more opportunities.
National Landscape The Green Forest.
The Groene Woud consists of a cover sand area through which the stream valleys of the Dommel, the Beerze, the Reusel and part of the Aa run from north to south. Several nature areas together form the nature center of Het Groene Woud. There are special things to discover and undertake in every area!
Maashorst Nature Reserve.
Trees, streams and animals, you will find it all in Maashorst, the largest nature reserve in North Brabant. The pine trees ruled here for a long time - once planted for timber production. But nowadays the landscape is increasingly regaining its original variation: forest interspersed with heather, fens and streams, drifting sand and fields. And since 2016, the original inhabitants have been wandering around here again: wisents, Exmoor ponies and tauros. With their grazing they keep the area open and varied. Maashorst is also: estates, castles and boulders from the ice age. Once the river Maas flowed here, which in those days left these large boulders. If you walk through the varied Maashorst, you walk along traces of history. Maashorst is a special area geologically. The Maas used to run here. In the course of time the Maas has started to flow more and more to the east due to a breach in the earth's crust. This fracture caused the bottom to rise, which meant that the Maas had to give way. The higher area that is created here is called horst, hence the name Maashorst.
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