Hiking in a Belgian nature park

By Bernd F Meier Sep 16, 2010, 10:20 GMT

Sourbrodt, Belgium - The trail is steep as it winds along the Tros Marets stream. Hikers have to climb up through a narrow gorge outside the town of Malmedy.

In some spots, the trail is secured by steel cables for hikers to grab. The group must climb more than 200 metres while making their way between the cliffs, until finally they reach the hilly plateau of the Hautes Fagnes. It is quiet up here, at an elevation of more than 500 metres, one of the highest points in Belgium.

The 9-kilometre-long circular route starting from the Ferme Libert Inn is only one of many hiking trails in the Hautes Fagnes-Eifel nature park region. The rugged landscape stretches over an area of 45 square kilometres, from the Belgian towns of Eupen and Malmedy in the west to the town of Monschau, across the border in Germany to the east where the name for the region is the Eifel.

The nature preservation area has been split up into several protective zones since 1975. Some areas of the high marshlands are designated as 'protective zone D' on large sign boards, warning people away. The marshlands are strictly off limits to people.

'It is downright spooky walking through the marshes,' the 19th- century German poet Annette von Droste-Huelshoff found. And it's the same feeling which hikers in the Hautes Fagnes-Eifel today may experience.

The weather can change suddenly in the upper marshlands. A few hours earlier the sun was shining, and all of a sudden, hikers are wandering through thick fog and mists, which create a mysterious atmosphere.

The 19th-century Baraque Michel hotel, located between Eupen and the village of Sourbrodt, is the starting point for many hiking expeditions. One circular route rich in a variety of attractions is 16 kilometres long and leads through both the Wallonne and Polleur regions of the Hautes Fagnes. Hikers need four to five hours walking atop narrow elevated wooden paths cutting through the wet green lands along the Polleurbach creek.

Along the way, they can observe the unique flora of the Fagnes landscape: meat-eating sundews, wild orchids, bog asphodels, and bog- heather, among others, which have made the area their habitat over the past 8,000 years since the last Ice Age.

Then there is the characteristic world of birds: forest snipes, bog owls, and meadow pipits inhabit the highest-elevation region of Belgium.

The hiking season in the Hautes Fagnes-Eifel runs from March to October. 'Sturdy and waterproof hiking shoes, weather-resistant clothing, drinking water and something to eat are indispensable for hikes in the Haute Fagnes,' advises Eric Thomas, a trail guide from Malmedy.

In early autumn, Nature especially unfolds its beauty in the colours of the rust-red purple moor-grass as well as in the blue marsh gentians - which are under protection - and the violet-coloured heather.

Along with the hiking trail in the Hautes Fagnes, the Wallonne regional tourism office has highlighted seven further trails. The trails in the three Wallonne provinces of Liege, Luxembourg and Namur are between 7 and 16 kilometres long.

In 2011, a further eight trails are to be added, according to Eva Claushues of the Belgian Tourism office in Cologne. These trails, however, do not have their own markers, but instead intersect with other routes which have been marked. So a further item which hikers must think about having is an up-to-date map.