Banks of the Scheldt at Callebeekveer

On the other side of the Scheldt is the flood control area: the Polders of Kruibeke. Easy to reach from Hemiksem via the Callebeek ferry.

Partly hidden behind the concrete dike wall are mudflats and salt marshes. Here the salt marshes are relatively small and narrow, but further upstream they are quite wide. The salt marshes between the Dutch border and the Callebeek ferry are brackish water salt marshes, upstream they are freshwater salt marshes. These are unique biotopes, even at European level.

For more than 100 years, the Scheldt was a dead river. From the beginning of the 21st century, the river underwent a real metamorphosis, from a dead to a living river: a river that is once again swum by about 50 species of fish.

Thousands of waterfowl spend the winter along the river and the number of fish-eating species has also increased remarkably. Most notable are cormorants. Large black birds, perfectly adapted to life in and by the water. Along the banks of the Scheldt you can also regularly see groups of lapwings. Meadow birds that gather in large groups after the breeding season. Black-headed gulls and herring gulls regularly fly back and forth along the river.

Toerisme Rupelstreek vzw