Raspaillebos
Nature reserve · Flanders
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Raspaillebos is a 50-hectare forest reserve on the slopes of the Bosberg in the Flemish Ardennes, protected as a landscape since 1980 and recognized as a Natura 2000 site. Logged during World War II but never farmed, it kept its rich woodland flora, from wild daffodil to wild hyacinth, and hosts nightingales, woodcock, and four woodpecker species. Five marked trails cross it, worth a detour from the road.
The name comes from the old Flemish word 'raspe', to scrape or rasp, after the coppicing that has shaped this woodland for centuries: every twelve to eighteen years, workers cut the old stumps of trees and shrubs back to ground level and let them regrow from the base, a practice credited with preserving rare orchids here, including one-berry, wood orchid, and great sawfly orchid. Raspaillebos is what remains of the old Kolenwoud, once a much larger forest across this stretch of the Flemish Ardennes, and together with its neighbors Moerbekebos and Karkoolbos it now covers around 150 hectares on the flanks of the Bosberg. The terrain mixes two landscapes at once, the steep folds typical of the Flemish Ardennes and the softer rolling ground of the Pajottenland, since the forest sits between the valleys of the Dender and the Mark rivers. Across the provincial border in Galmaarden, the same belt of woodland continues into the Kluysbos.
What you see
From the top of the Bosberg, the ground opens into a wide view over the Dender and Mark valleys below.
Practical
The trails are open year-round but are unpaved and not suited to strollers or wheelchairs; sturdy footwear is recommended.
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