The soul of Amstelland: flora and fauna, in the real and the virtual world

The Amstelland region consists of four municipalities, all of which have their own character. For example, the metropolitan Amstelveen is a popular base for expats and Aalsmeer is known for the plant and flower trade due to the presence of the auction and countless growers.

The location for this episode of this program was therefore quickly found: Floriworld offers visitors an interactive experience in which flowers are central. The attraction is ideally suited for taking selfies and other photos and sharing them via social media channels. NH also took selfies, but mainly focused the lens deep into the soul of the Amstelland region.

Virtual floral splendor

For example, we talked to former mayor of Aalsmeer Joost Hoffscholte, who appreciates the virtual floral splendor in Floriworld, but still prefers the ‘nature presentation’.

Who says flora, must say fauna. And so NH delved into the wonderful world of the cricket for this episode. The ‘transformer-like’ insect terrorizes gardeners throughout Amstelveen by eating their crops.

NH reporter Celine Sulsters visited horticulturalists’ association Nesserlaan, where she was introduced to the cricket, the control technique and saw how the crickets are eventually fed to the chickens.

In this episode we also see Sander Gabel, a sporty Amstelvener who knows the municipality and the region well thanks to his hobby. He runs animals. Running animals? Indeed, he plans his run so meticulously that his navigation has drawn a real animal on the map at the end of his run. So he ran rather a cat by Amstelveen, and recently an orca in Hoofddorp.

Sometimes he allows himself to be sponsored for charity during his runs. Perhaps the Monkey Foundation could be his next charity. That foundation has its roots in Amstelveen, where Okko and Riga Reussien took in dozens of discarded monkeys at home in the 1960s.

Watch the episode for special polygon images of this reception location. Has Sander ever run a monkey? “Haha, no not that one yet.”

For another item, we go even further back in time, 108 years to be exact. After a two-year corona stop, the round and flat-bottomed boats will soon be competing for the title on the Westeinderplassen again. Yet participating is more important than winning, seasoned participant Fred Schijvens tells NH Nieuws on his flatboat.