LOON AND DRUNEN DUNES

The Loon and Drunen Dunes National Park is largely an alternation of dry sand drifts and coniferous forests. The entire park covers more than 35 km², of which about 30 km² is drifting sand. The area is also known as the 'Brabant Sahara'.
The drifting sand area was created in the late Middle Ages. In that time of relative prosperity, the population pressure increased to such an extent that the cycle in the area was fatally disrupted by overgrazing and too frequent sodging of the heath, creating an ever-expanding wasteland.
The sandy bottom was exposed in more and more places, allowing the loose sand to be blown away by the wind. This process was self-reinforcing and almost unstoppable. To turn the shifting sands around, forests with Scots pine were planted from the 19th century onwards and pines were planted on a large scale, especially at the beginning of the 20th century, in connection with the great need for mining timber in South Limburg.
Nowadays the area is stable and even trees are cut down to preserve this exceptionally large drifting sand landscape for Northern Europe. The landscape is now quite varied, one can find coniferous and deciduous forests, sandy plains and dunes up to twenty-four meters high.

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