The best dog-friendly hikes and walks in Hobos Beschermd Landschap

You are here In Den Brand. The hiking trails in this gigantic inland dune area take you through a varied landscape of high dunes, deciduous forests and coniferous forests. The dunes in Hechtel are unique in Flanders and even rare within Europe. The forests around it, where you will mainly find birch and oak, are also worth a visit. Source: https://www.nationaalparkbosland.be/ontdek/wandelen/in-den-brand/13/

bailiff clercks lived here. He hanged the last bokkerijder!

The dunes in National Park Bosland near Hechtel form a unique and surprising landscape with vast sandy plains, drifting dunes and patches of coniferous forest. This special area alternates open sandy fields with shady forests, where you can wander endlessly over winding paths and rolling dunes. A perfect place to enjoy the silence and the varied, almost desert-like landscape.

This area used to consist of open heathlands and drifting sand dunes. Coniferous wood was planted partly to protect themselves against the sand and to have access to firewood. This explains the name of the area. Oak stews were also planted for this purpose between 1850 and 1900. The area includes unique inland dunes and a varied landscape of high dunes, deciduous forests and coniferous forests. It owes its name to the fact that firewood was collected there.

To the west of the nature reserve is an extensive military training area known as the Beverlo Camp. The site covers approximately 55 km², making it the largest military training area in Belgium.

The four insects are not the least: the green sand beetle, red wood ant, the bastard sand beetle and the heather butterfly are not only fun to play with! They are enlarged versions of animals that you can actually encounter here in the sand and the surrounding forests. The dunes of this area form a special habitat for many animals and plants that are very rarely found elsewhere.

The dunes of In den Brand were created after the last ice age, 12,000 years ago when fierce north winds drove sand towards our Kempen. Real inland dunes were created and because the wind had free rein, these dunes shifted. When our climate became warmer, forests spontaneously emerged. People who needed space for fields and houses cut down these forests, leaving the sand exposed again. To protect themselves against this advancing sand, which even penetrated the houses, it was later decided to plant trees again. Planting the dunes with conifers had a second advantage: it gave the residents plenty of firewood (hence the name In den Brand). So-called 'stoves' were also planted in the period 1850-1900. These are deciduous trees that have been pruned to the ground to use the trunks for all kinds of 'wood'. This systematic felling gave them a very special shape and has now become part of our Real Estate.

The dune area 'In den Brand' owes its name to the fact that people used to come here to get their firewood. At the entrance to In den Brand you will find a nice picnic spot with some giant insects in wood, great fun for the children. The dunes further away are unique 'land dunes', which can sometimes reach a height of 40 meters. So some serious calf-biters!