Biesbosch Trip, 30 July 2005

Biesbosch, 30 July 2005

This was my second visit to Biesbosch in one month. The first visit was quite adventurous. We rented motor boats and canoes and enjoyed the quiet small rivers in the area. I think that was my first time driving a motor boat and also rowing in canoe (not very successful in the second part, the canoe went zigzag instead of straight line J). At that time we started in Drimmelen, a small village in the south part of the Biesbosch area.

Short history about the area, the Biesbosch small rivers were created as the excess of the great flood in the area in year 1421. The water did not fully flow back to the main river and the sea, and created the small rivers and some ponds. Before the flood, the area was a cultivate land with several villages. Until year 1970 there was direct connection from the rivers to the sea, and it was closed during the Delta Works dams building in The Netherlands.

The name of Biesbosch originated literally from ‘de bosch van biezen’, which means the ‘land of reeds (a kind of tall grass)’. The reeds are dominant plant and in the past were used in the daily life, for example as the roof of the houses.
Another dominant flora in the area is the willow trees, which were also harvested by the local people.
Currently the area is one of the largest national parks in the country with size of about 9,000 ha.



In the recent visit we arrived in different side of Biesbosch, which is the Biesboschcentrum in city Dordrecht, the north side of the area. This time we did a boat trip using an electric boat with capacity about 70 persons. The trip passed through some interesting parts in the area, with detail explanation about the history and the facts about the nature. We saw the only left farmer house in the area, the willow forest, and the old worker house.

The boat tour lasted for an hour, and we were back in the Biesboschcentrum. After the relaxing and luxurious tour, we prepared the walking trip in the area. There are several possible routes, and we chose a route that comprises about 6 km path. The route lies beside the small rivers and separated into 3 parts of the land connected by small bridges. The first two parts contain natural bushes and trees in both sides of the path including the itchy ‘stinging nettle’, small insects, and a tiny frog.

The last part, which is the largest part, is a historical route where we can visit the old worker houses (one of them still actively used) and see the samples of different willow tree species. There was a local guide in this area, who explained the history of the houses.

We spent about 3 hours for the walking trip, including a sandwich lunch rest and duck-feeding. The ducks were really get familiar with humans and bravely approached us, expecting some foods.

In general it was a nice trip, experiencing Dutch nature and also with additional knowledge about the history.