Nature park is a compound word. If you break it down, you get the words NATURE and PARK.

A nature park has no fence and you don't have to pay an entrance fee. A nature park is simply an area with a special landscape where people, plants and animals can feel at home. Some parts of the nature park are protected. These parts are called nature reserves and you are not allowed to enter them. Rare animal and plant species live there, and you'd better not disturb them.
The Bergisches Land Nature Park starts at the top (or in other words in the north) with the Bergisch cities of Wuppertal, Solingen and Remscheid and extends down (in the south) to behind the Sieg (which is a river). On the right (i.e. in the east), the nature park extends as far as the Sauerland, and on the left (in the west) as far as the city of Cologne. That's a really big area, about as big as the island of Tenerife in Spain. To drive from the north to the south takes about 1.5 hours by car.

Lots of water: There are 17 dams in the nature park, some of them are drinking water dams, others are recreational dams. The recreational dams are used for many leisure activities. There are sailing clubs, camping sites, boat rentals and restaurants there. The paths around the dams invite for cycling and hiking.

The drinking water reservoirs not only supply the Bergisches Land region with fresh drinking water. The water pipes lead all the way to the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Drinking water dams are especially protected and you often can't even get to the banks - swimming is strictly forbidden. The water is transported in the many rivers and streams, which also characterize the landscape in the nature park. 

Where there is a lot of water, there is always a lot of green. That's why there are so many forests and meadows in the Bergisches Land. 

In many places in the nature park you can find castles from the age of knights (e.g. Castle Burg in the north of the nature park) and fairy-tale castles (e.g. Castle Homburg in the center). These historical buildings and ruins are the traces of people who lived far before our time and they tell the story of the Bergisches Land.

So there are many, very different places to discover - and protect!

""The Christ Child also lives in the Bergisches Land Nature Park, namely in Engelskirchen. " "

Yes, the Bergisches Land is mountainous, but no, that's not why it's called that. Otherwise it would have to be called Bergiges Land. The name comes from the Counts and later Dukes of Berg.

What exactly can you do in the nature park?

There are many great hiking trails in the nature park, including special trails for you children. Hiking with the popular "mouse" known from TV is a special experience. On six Bergische Streifzügen, which are particularly well signposted hiking trails, the mouse explains many things to you. So you can always discover exciting things along the way and look forward to the next "mouse panel".

The children's adventure trails along the Sieg also offer great action: learn the language of bees, see a flower meadow through bees' eyes - on "Melli's Bienenlehrpfad" you can learn new things about bees and other forest animals at interactive stations. The experience stations on the artist's path are aimed at little artists: building natural aeroplanes or towers out of little stones is how art and nature come together.

Thanks for the funny drawings to © VDN/Meike Freud-Raber