High Fens

About this place

The High Fens, Hautes Fagnes in French, are an upland plateau in Liège Province in eastern Belgium, reaching into northwest Germany, between the Ardennes and the Eifel, about 15 km south of Eupen and 39 km east of Liège in a straight line. The area was declared a nature reserve in 1957 and is the largest in Belgium, at about 45 square kilometres, within the German-Belgian Hohes Venn-Eifel nature park. Its highest point, the Signal de Botrange at 694 metres, is the highest point in Belgium, topped by a six-metre tower reaching 700 metres. It is covered in raised sphagnum bogs over 10,000 years old, with a unique subalpine flora, fauna and microclimate. Wide moors of golden grass and purple heather stretch across the plateau, dotted with lone birches and spruce woods and broken by pools and bogs reflecting the sky. Mist often covers it, and in winter snow turns it into cross-country ski country. Visitors walk long wooden boardwalks over the bogs, which protect the fragile plants, starting from visitor centres. Some areas close in certain seasons to protect wildlife, so keep to the marked paths; the weather here is colder and wetter than the rest of Belgium.