Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

WESTERN FLANDERS 121

Path leading down from the dyke protecting the Visitor Centre into the wild coastal landscape of the Zwin

Shelducks, the

nature park’s symbol

Bird Park at the Zwin, offering a nesting site to a large colony of storks

The Zwin 5

24 km (15 miles) N of Bruges. Road
Map B1. Tel (050) 607086. @ 13 (Jul
and Aug). n Graaf Léon Lippens-
dreef 8, Knokke-Heist. # Easter–Sep:
9am–4:30pm Tue–Sun; Oct–Easter:
9am–4:30pm Tue–Sun. ¢ 1st three
weeks Dec. & 8 on request. =
http://www.west-vlaanderen.be

At the far eastern end of the
Belgian coast, the border with
the Netherlands is delineated
by low-lying dunes, salt mead-
ows and tidal inlets. Since
1952 this area has been a
nature reserve, the Provinciaal
Natuurpark Zwin, famed for
its many nesting and migratory
birds and its specialized wet-
land plantlife. There is little
here now that speaks of the
area’s very different past,
when the Zwin was a broad,
deep channel, running some
distance inland. During the

medieval period, thousands

of trading ships from all over

Europe passed through here,

bringing goods to Damme,

where they were unloaded

and transported to Bruges by

canal. The navigable inlet was

created by a mas-

sive storm in 1134

which inundated

the coastline.

However, it proved

to be only tempo-

rary. During the

15th century, it

began to silt up –

partly because of the

creation of polders

around Damme. This gradually

strangled trade, and by the

16th century Bruges’s role as

one of Europe’s most prosper-

ous cities was doomed.

Today, the Zwin is a

beautiful stretch of unspoilt

tidal coastline, crossed by a

number of footpaths. The

main gateway is the Visitor

Centre, reached by an inland

road, Graaf Léon Lippensdreef,

from Het Zoute, the eastern

portion of Knokke-Heist. The

Visitor Centre forms a triangu-

lar area within the reserve, set

well back from the sea

and protected from

inundation by a long,

high dyke. Within

its large wooded

compound are an

interpretation centre

and a bird park, which

has a resident popu-

lation of storks and

various coastal and

marshland birds such as owls

and herons. The walkway

along the dyke offers views

over the Zwin, a broad

expanse of dunes carpeted

with salt-tolerant plants. The

lake-like areas of water change

with the tides. Simple hides

along the dyke offer a good

chance of seeing some of the

birds that frequent the Zwin.

These include geese, ducks,

terns, harriers, avocets and

egrets. Visitors can also follow

paths that lead out from here

into the wetland and dunes.

Guided tours offer the oppor-

tunity to get off the beaten

track and into some of the

Zwin’s more hidden corners.

There are two statues of

note at the Zwin. One, near

the information centre, is a

bronze portrait of the founder

of the park, the ornithologist

Count Léon Lippens (1911−66).

The other stands on the dunes

that line the coast – a large,

bronze sculpture of a running

hare, by the British artist

Barry Flanagan (b.1941).