Oranjezon Natuurgebied: a flashback to my childhood holidays in Poland

This was our first chance for a day trip after coronavirus-related restrictions had been lifted and since our friend from Berlin came to visit us, there was no way we were not goint to take advantage of the nice weather and visit the beach :D As we still wanted to avoid crowds and just simply enjoy pure nature, we decided to visit a small nature reserve in Zeeland, part of the Netherlands consisting of a number of islands and peninsulas. It was a sunny day but the light (and sometimes not so light) breeze made us feel sometimes quite cold and warm jackets were a must! Overall the conditions were perfect for the long walk and surprisingly only few people were inside the nature reserve. Almost all tourists decided to stay on the beach (smart people with the windbreaks! :p) which was still wide enough to leave sufficient spaces between families to feel safe. Let’s start our walk together!

Bicycle path between camping sites that we followed to the entrance of the nature reserve, Oranjezon Natuurgebied

Beautiful nature caught our attention immediately after we entered the nature reserve

The small pond was not only a perfect place for many interesting plants but also the home of this little turtle, spotted basking pleasantly in the sun

Our friend noticed this gorgeous dragonfly and very quietly captured this amazing photo of it! Unfortunately, it's so easy to scare them away, therefore you need to be either lucky or very patient

This place was full of insects, perfect chance for macro photography fans like us!

Eupatorium cannabinum, commonly known as hemp-agrimony (according to wikipedia) caught my attention with its beautiful, pink color

Quiet, coniferous forest reminded me of Polish coast. There were many cones lying on the sandy ground in the forest and light sound of the wind put as all in a very relaxing mood

Yet another dragonfly! :D

I was really disappointed that the viewing tower was closed! Information board says that it's under renovation but it looked like it was still in perfect shape to me. We saw it again from a distance, sticking out a bit above the tree line so the view must be nice from there.

The idea was to walk back to the car along the coast and then have a picnic on the beach before heading back to Belgium

Low tide left enormous space for us to walk and interesting pattern on the sand. Two low tides and two high tides occur every lunar day and you can check the time precisely online

An enormous amount of seashells during low tide were lying on the sand and among them some with very unique colors

Since it was windy that day, many people took an advantage of the conditions and were flying kites or windsurfing

Kite surfing is really popular here!

Practical info:

• Entrance fee to the Oranjezon Natuurgedied - 1 euro per person, tickets bought from the ticket machine at the entrance to this nature reserve, next to the camping Oranjezon

• Car parking- 8.0 euro per day (1.7euro/h), next to the beach Strand Vrouwenpolder

• Our walk was in total 12,5km. We started from the car parking, first following the cycling path until we reached the entrance to the nature reserve. The loop we did in the nature reserve was marked on the map below in green but there are few other options with different distances (3 to 7km). It is possible to enter/leave the park next to the beach but the only place to buy a ticket is next to the main entrance so probably entering from the side of the beach is not really ideal. Although, we didn’t meet anyone to check our tickets. We decided to walk back to our car by the beach and it was great decision! Walking along the water where the sand is packed and was very pleasant for a few kilometers that we did.