2025 in pictures: some highlights
2025 was another year full of movement in Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide. From nature restoration and sustainable recreation to education, dialogue and experience. Together with partners, volunteers and the Grenspark team, we worked on numerous exciting projects. We are happy to share some of the highlights of the past year.
Thanks to everyone who is committed to this nature reserve. We look forward to new collaborations and continue to commit ourselves together in the coming year for a strong and future-oriented Grenspark!
Visit Kalmthout organises thematic calendar walks together with the nature guides of NAREKA and IVN Groene Zoom, with themes such as silence, flora and fauna, cultural history and nature restoration.
Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide takes an innovative step in nature management with Heidedrones, a project in which drones are used to better map and protect nature.
After five years of renovation, De Vroente, Duurzaam Educatiepunt reopens its doors with a brand new expo. Together with the revamped information office of Visit Kalmthout and the Bee Expo, the site has become a beautiful whole, welcoming visitors.
In April, Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide will celebrate the establishment of a new Foundation that will strengthen cross-border cooperation and offer new opportunities for nature, recreation and education. Lukas Jacobs, mayor of Kalmthout, succeeds Martin Groffen, who hands over the chairmanship after seven years.
In May, the focus was on the Beleefweek, a week full of activities on biodiversity and nature experience in which everyone is challenged to count species, discover and actively experience nature together with partners from Flanders and the Netherlands.
Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide is launching an interactive digital mapthat allows visitors to explore all walking, cycling and MTB routes, practical information and local facilities and thus experience the park in a sustainable and well-prepared way.
This summer, the short-toed eagle is regularly seen in the Grenspark, a sign that our heathlands are a real hotspot for this impressive bird of prey. Who knows, maybe climate change is playing a role in this shift? Or are the nature restoration works in favour of smooth snake and viper a reason for them to stay here longer?
Visitors enjoy the annual natural phenomenon: flowering heather in Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide. The flowering period usually lasts from mid-August to mid-September.
In September, goat farm Hendrickx in Ossendrecht will host the theatre performance 'Iets met Boeren' (Something about Farming), in which farmers and non-farmers discuss food, agriculture and nature together.
In October, the silence weekend takes centre stage, with various peace and nature experience activities around the International Day of Silence, to which everyone is invited to experience the power of silence in the landscape together.
GrensparkKalmthoutse Heide welcomes partners of the Interreg MONA project to promote sustainable mobility in nature reserves and exchange knowledge on nature- and visitor-friendly solutions.
The Junior Rangers and Libelhamels organise a Christmas tree campaign where you can adopt a unique, 100% organic Christmas tree from GrensparkKalmthoutse Heide and thus contribute to nature management and heath conservation.