The 'Waterloopbos' (water way forest) is one of the eldest forests of the Northeast Polder. This part of the former Southsea (Zuiderzee) was reclaimed to land in the period 1936-1942. This forest was created at the north-eastern edge of the polder in 1944, rather quickly after the water was fully pumped out in 1942. As the soil here consists of peat and sand above an impermeable layer of loam, the area, together with what is now the adjacent Voorsterbos, was regarded as inappropriate for agriculture - turning it into a forest was seen as a reasonable alternative.
In 1952 the government gave the part that is now the Waterloopbos to the Waterloopkundig Laboratorium (now Delft Hydraulics). Since then the forest was used by its engineers for creating models of hydraulic projects around the world. To feed these models, water from the adjacent 'Borderlake' (which is 5 meters above the polder level) was led into a myriad of canals through the forest - flowing ultimately into the Zwolsevaart, a large canal used to draw water from the polder to keep it dry. Once the model served its purpose it was just left in the wood and nature took over again. In this way you still find the remnants of many models across the forest, including models for the Dutch Deltaworks, a sea dyke for Surinam and ports around the world, including Rotterdam, Vlissingen, IJmuiden, Lagos, Bangkok, Istanbul and Beirut.
In 1995 the Waterloopkundig Laboratorium was privatised and a year later the management decided to move out as by then models could be created much easier using computers and in-house facilities in their new laboratories in Delft. Since 2002 the forest is owned by Natuurmonumenten, a large conservation organization every responsible Dutchmen is member of, and preserved as a very special ecosystem, including these models. The combination of humid forest vegetation and fauna along these half overgrown ruins of models, wave machines and sluices, gives the area a very special atmosphere. This is further emphasized by the water you hear running and rustling everywhere, the smells and the beautiful light filtered by the humid air - in particular in autumn and winter.
It is just a small area, allowing a brief walk of about 4 km - but once you are there, in particular as a photographer, you can amaze yourself for hours. Just watch these two images I took in December above and below (there are more on my website - click through the image - taken back in 2010).
I have a few more like this one that are even more pretty, which I might publish later (so please watch my website and this blog!).
