It is a fresh and wet autumn day when we visit National Park De Hoge Veluwe. We walk and cycle and spot some wildlife!
We are visiting 21 National Parks in the Netherlands within a year! Do you want to know wich accommodations we used, read here.
Previous visit
About four months ago we also visited De Hoge Veluwe. We then did Slow Tocht Otterlose sand and in the evening made a bicycle tour along the Bosje van Staf. In addition to De Hoge Veluwe, we also walked at Planken Wambuis and Radio Kootwijk. We have seen a lot of wildlife. If you want to know more about this visit, read on here.
Entrance Hoenderloo
De Hoge Veluwe National Park is 55 square meters in size and has three entrances; Otterlo, Schaarsbergen and Hoenderloo. In addition to many opportunities for walking and cycling, you can also visit a museum or enjoy good food. We start today in Hoenderloo. We park the car and take one of the white bicycles. They are free and very nice to drive.
Deelense Veld and Delense Zand
We drive over the heathland of the Delense Veld and Delense Zand to the south of the park. This is where we really feel how fresh it is today. It is raining softly but we decide to put on our rain pants anyway.
It is quiet in the park. We hardly meet any other visitors. We hope that we will therefore have a better chance of seeing wildlife and especially hearing the deer bellow. On the path we encounter our first mouflon! Yeah!
Bosje van Staf
We cycle south to the Bosje van Staf. This is a well-known game viewing site. The last time we were here there were large herds of mouflons and red deer. Now it is extinct. Near the Bosje van Staf is another wildlife observation point (south of Kompagnieberg), here we drink a cup of tea and warm up. In the distance we see a pack of deer, we can hardly see them with the naked eye. Binoculars are really necessary!
Walking route
In the booklet “Wildlife walks in the Netherlands” we have selected a nice walking route, around Oud-Reemsterzand. Unfortunately, it appears that a large part of the National Park is closed to visitors during the Bronze Age. A good thing that the managers give the animals a rest, but we had not taken this into account. It is a pity that we cannot walk in this part now.
Struin or stroll area
At the Pollen we are allowed to walk, stronger here you can ‘stroll’ through nature, you do not have to stick to the path. We walk around here for a while, stroll and wander, but because it is quite chilly we decide to continue cycling.
Wildlife observation hut De Plijmen
We make a short stop at the wildlife observation hut De Plijmen. We think this is an ideal place for game. A beautiful green plain, sheltered on all sides. We decide to come and have a look here later in the day.
We cycle to Het Paviljoen, this is the park restaurant in the center of the park. Here you will also find the Museonder (nature museum) and it is quite close to the Kröller Möller Museum. In Het Paviljoen we warm up and enjoy a delicious cup of soup.
Walking through Schuilkelder and Fazantenpark
We take a walk of about 6 kilometers through the area north of the Center, Schuilkelder and Fazantenpark. This is an attractive part of the park. The Fazantenpark has many level differences and here we saw a few deer last time.
This time we are less lucky. We see a deer, but no other game. A nice extra is that it gets dry and a bit warmer. Nice!
Wildlife spotting
Towards the end of the afternoon we cycle back to De Plijmen. We post ourselves in the wildlife observation hut for an hour, but unfortunately we are not lucky. Of course it cannot always be a party.
We cycle back to Schuilkelder. Here is a huge observation hut and yes, here is a large pack of deer and a stray wild boar. The male makes a big noise! Belling! It is a bit like the mooing of a cow, we are glad we saw and heard it!
We cycle on to observation hut Millelamel. Here too we see a large pack, with an impressive male. This male can also be heard, but the pack soon moves on.
On the way to the exit we come across a large wild boar, at the edge of the cycle path. They look even bigger at dusk!
Spotting wildlife at Hoog Buurloo
We are glad we saw some wildlife at the end of the day. Of course there is no guarantee and spotting wildlife along the cycle path or during your walk is the best. It is also nice to see the observation huts. If you want more certainty, you can also spot wildlife at Hoog Buurlo. Staatsbosbeheer manages the observation hut and you can register at a time. If you are interested, read on here.
Information
- Start and end point: Entrance Hoenderloo, but also possible Otterlo / Schaarsbergen, we cycled a large part of route 2, hiked from Paviljoen — Fazantenpark. You have to buy a ticket for the National Park, the bikes are free.
- Length: cycling route 2 26 kilometers, walk 6 kilometers
- Level differences: slightly hilly terrain everywhere
- Information: you can find more information on the website of National Park De Hoge Veluwe, it is useful to buy a card (2 euros)