Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Landschaft

The Hinanger wasserfall (Hinanger Waterfall) is a series of small cascades with one large drop of 17 meters from a limestone rockwall. The waterfall is located east of the village of Hinang (not very well signposted) between Oberstdorf and Sonthofen. We visted there in winter, reaching the waterfall after a walk from the road of about 15 minutes. It is not only the water that thunders down, but also the moss that covers the bizarre shapes of the rocks, the water that drips down everywhere and the countless icicles.

The Seealpsee near Oberstdorf is a high mountain lake above the Oytal valley in the Allgäu Alps at an altitude of 1622 metres. The approximately 75,000 square metre lake drains into the Oybach via the Seebach and is located in the Daumengruppe on the southern slope of the Schattenberg ridge, which towers 200 metres above the lake. The idyllic, crystal-clear Seealpsee is considered being one of the most beautiful mountain lakes in the Allgäu Alps. (Pictures taken from Zeigersattel)

The Geratser Wasserfall is a striking waterfall in the Kranzegger Bach . It is located south of Kempten and north of Sonthofen in the municipality of Rettenberg. The Kranzegger Bach flows through a green meadow landscape before dropping six meters from a wall in a small wooded area. The waterfall got its name from the hamlet of Gerats, where it is located. As the waterfall is so hidden in the forest and at the same time a few kilometers away from well known villages, this natural wonder does not attract many visitors.

The Overasseltse en Hatertse Vennen is a special nature reserve of 520 ha with sloping river dunes, more than 20 fens, heathland and pine forests. The rivers Maas and Waal - which are now relatively far away from this area - are the creators of this landscape. After the last Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago, the Netherlands was a polar desert. Sand from the bed of the river Maas was blown here creating high dunes. The river Waal had previously deposited a layer of clay that was compressed into an impenetrable layer. As a result, rainwater was stored in the form of fens. From the 19th century, pine trees were planted here for the Limburg mining industry. The fen area had its own water management, independent of the regional groundwater. This changed around 1900; both municipalities and private individuals dug ditches and trenches to drain the water. Because the fens were in danger of drying out, part of the woodland was converted to heathland in 2013. This preserves the unique flora and fauna that are dependent on these fens. At the edge of the Overasselt en Hatertse Vennen are the ruins of the medieval St. Walrick's Chapel and a so called “clootie tree”, also known as a “rag tree”. The popular story goes that if you hang a piece of cloth from a sick person in this oak tree, the tree will make the illness disappear (PiP5).

Unlike the name suggests, the Kootwijkerveen is not located near Kootijk, but somewhere hidden in the woods between the hamlets of Nieuw Milligen and Assel. It is a nature reserve that is unusual for the Netherlands: a peat lake surrounded on all sides by wooded shifting sand hills. The Kootwijkerveen has a long history that goes back to the Ice Age. It was originally a marshland area on the western slope of the Veluwe . Because of an impermeable layer, the water remains there and creates ideal conditions for the formation of moor peat. Peat was extracted here up until the Second World War. Later, pasture land was created. In the 1970s, the Dutch government organisation for forestry and the management of nature reserves ( Staatsbosbeheer ), began restoration work. The result is a beautiful lake at 40 metres above sea level: a wet oasis in the middle of dry sandy soil; created by ice ages, peat cutters and nature managers. The Kootwijkerveen can be visited along a signposted walking route, which starts at a car park near Nieuw Milligen.

The Nationaal Park Drents-Friese Wold is one of the largest areas of natural beauty in the Netherlands. The park consists of more than 6,000 hectares of forest, heathland, fens, shifting sands, pools and ponds, swamps and brook valley grasslands. Drents-Friese Wold is located in the border region of the northern Dutch provinces of Drenthe and Friesland. During our visit we were pleasantly surprised by the varied landscape. I can not remember having seen such a diversity of landscapes in one of the twenty national parks in my country. In the year 2000 it became a national park; in addition, the Drents-Friese Wold is one of the most beautiful and important nature areas in Europe and has therefore been designated as a “Nature2000 area”. The park is managed by four organizations and eighty private owners.

After the last ice age - about 10 thousand years ago - the climate began to grow warmer and wetter. Sphagnum moss began to grow in the stagnant waters. The peat continued to grow and to spread. To the east of the Hondsrug - a ridge of sand that is mainly located in the Dutch province Drenthe - it developed into the enormous Bourtange peat bog, which at one time measured 3.000 square kilometres. The layer of peat became so thick that it even began to grow up high against the sides of the Hondsrug . On the edge of the Bargerveen , the peat covered the Hondsrug completely. The Bargerveen is the only large area of the Bourtange peat bog still surviving in the Netherlands. It is now a nature reserve of more than 2.000 hectares with one of the last areas of living peat. A peat bog is anything but flat and monotonous. The area is characterized by a wide variety of landscapes: swamp, grassland, heather, forest and water. The northern part of the Bargerveen is one large stretch of water. It is a real paradise for birdlife, as one can see from a large bird hide (PiP4). Since 2006 the Bargerveen is part of the Internationaler Naturpark Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen (Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen International Nature Park), a nature reserve located on both sides of the border between the Netherlands and Germany. The Dutch part of the nature reserve was founded in 1992 as Natuurreservaat Bargerveen .

Renderklippen is a nature reserve, which is characterised by vast stretches of moorland that lie on moraines. These moraines were created during the last ice age. Archaeological excavations have shown that the area was already inhabited as early as 700 BC. There are several vantage points ranging in height from 25 to 30 metres throughout the undulating landscape, where one can enjoy breathtaking vistas. Because the Renderklippen nature reserve is located far from major cities, it is one of the few places in the Netherlands where it can still be really dark at night. Especially at the end of the summer, when the heather is in bloom, the Renderklippen is transformed into a landscape more purple than purple. For me, it is one of the most beautiful heather landscapes in the Netherlands

Lake Plansee - nearby Reutte - is the second-largest natural lake in Tyrol. The lake is fed by the Spiessbach and Torsäulenbach, as well as by Lake Heiterwang and its runoff is the Archbach river. Lake Plansee is characterised by outstanding water quality of grade A. The water is used for generating electricity. Lake Plansee is situated at an altitude of 976 m, has a surface of 280 ha and a maximum depth of 78 m.

Puerto del Viento (Wind Pass) is a pass on the road A-366 between Ronda and El Burgo on an altitude of 1.190 metres. The pass is located in the Serrania de Ronda/Sierra de los Merinos.