The contrast is enormous, on one side of the cycle path are the neat houses of the Amsterdam district of Gein, with carports, cycle and walking paths and a playground. On the other side is impenetrable wilderness with swamp forest, fallen trees and wild animals such as foxes, martens and all kinds of birds. The jungle in your backyard!
Of course NH in Gaasperzoom – NH News
The Gaasperzoom is a special area where Hester Douma shows us around. Hester works at Groengebied Amstelland, part of Recreatie Noord-Holland. You will find raked recreational meadows on the banks of the Gaasperplas where you can barbeque here and there. A kind of Vondelpark on the edge of Amsterdam Southeast. But further towards Utrecht, in the southeast of Southeast, there are pieces of forest that it is almost impossible for people to get through. “Here, nature is supposed to take its course,” Hester explains.
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“There are fewer paths here”, Hester continues, “So nature is disturbed less here. In addition, we leave management to large animals: cows!” We see the tracks of the grazers: they pull branches from the trees and stir up the ground. A little later we arrive at a pool that is right next to the cycle path.
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It’s a cold spring and we have to look closely before we see some frogspawn. Frogs are cold-blooded animals and only become really active when it gets warmer. “This pool is actually not such a great pool at all, in terms of frogs,” says Hester. But at the pool that she thinks should be the best frog pond, we find nothing at all. “Look, that’s nature, unpredictable and quirky. That’s how it should be!” Then we run into the edge of North Holland.
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A little further on, the Gein flows into the Gaasp, the river that gave the Gaasperplas its name. The Bijlmer, the Angstel, the Amstel and the Diemen; all names of waters in this area that we find in place names. In any case, the Gaasperzoom is a surprising wilderness, close to the people of Amsterdam.