They’ve got sea eagles down there now,’ says pilot Joop Peek, indicating a patch of rough grassland and trees adjoining Holland’s Markermeer lake, near Amsterdam.
‘You wouldn’t want one of those to hit the aircraft,’ he adds, jovially, ‘they’re the size of a door. And they can easily fly up as high as we are now.’
We’re looking down, slightly nervously now in my case, on the nature reserve of Oostvaardersplassen. From 400 metres, we can see a group of wild Konik ponies moving en masse across a patch of mottled green grass – providing a brief glimpse of ancient Europe on one of its newest expanses of land.
Five minutes earlier we had taken off from the airfield at Lelystad, from which you climb for 13 metres before reaching sea level. This whole region, Flevoland, was reclaimed from the sea in the 1950s and 1960s.
From our lofty perch, there are plenty of clues that this is a very modern landscape: the brightly coloured modernism of the town of Almere, the trees that are all the same height, the ruler-straight roads. It’s like looking down on a gargantuan architect’s model.
There is, however, plenty of evidence that this area was once beneath metres of water. At the Bataviawerf nautical museum in the provincial capital of Lelystad, project manager Aryan Klein explains how Roman, medieval and 17th-century wrecks have all been discovered.
‘Every ship that’s found sheds new light on its era,’ he says. ‘In the 17th century, for example, there were at least 100 different types of ship in the Netherlands. At the time it was much easier to travel on water than on land. There was already a network of canals and lakes so it was possible to go pretty much anywhere by boat.’
It may have been convenient, but the Ijsselmeer was also treacherous. ‘It may be inland, but it can be very deceptive,’ adds Klein. ‘It’s quite shallow, so if storms come up they can quickly stir up the water and take you by surprise.’
Pride of place at Lelystad goes to the Batavia, a recreation of a 17th-century sailing vessel of the Dutch East India company that took 10 years to build.
Much of the Bataviawerf’s focus is on its second 17th-century reconstruction, the 1,600-tonne Seven Provinces, which is slowly taking shape in the shipyard. It’s an impressive and ambitious project and will take another 10 years to complete.
This is a region that is no stranger to long-term projects, however. Back at the 5,600 hectare conservation area of Oostvaardersplassen, home to those huge eagles that keep the local pilots on their toes, the plan is to allow nature to take its course – however long that takes.
Warden Hans Breveld explains: ‘This area was reclaimed from the sea in 1968. The environmentalists decided to bring back the kind of large herbivores that roamed over Europe thousands of years ago, to create a more durable ecosystem.
‘If you have enough space, natural processes can take place that we could hardly imagine any more,’ he adds.
One consequence of letting nature have its way is that species appear of their own accord, including the aforementioned high-flying white tailed eagles, which first arrived in the area in 2006.
Says Breveld. ‘These birds haven’t bred in the Netherlands since the Middle Ages. It’s more proof that with the right conditions, nature will take its course.’
The light aircraft pilots of Flevoland should perhaps take note.
Hotel Het Rechthuis, Muiderberg, www.hotelhetrechthuis.nl
Wooning Aviation provides flights over Flevoland, www.waviation.nl
http://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/
No comments:
Post a Comment