Konik horses in the beautiful nature reserve Oranjezon

Island Stories #9: on the island Walcheren

The history of Zeeland is one of constant battle against the sea. The province’s motto translates to, “I struggle and surface.” The flag of Zeeland shows a proud lion, halfway down in the blue and white waves, that is doing precisely that: struggling and keeping its head dry. 

Not that we have always been as successful as this lion. The lonely Koudekerke church tower, which I described in Island Stories #4, is all that is left of a dozen of villages that the sea has washed away on the south coast of the island of Schouwen-Duiveland.

Konik horses in Oranjezon (photo Alexander Verbeek)

While my neck hernia restricts what I can do, I try to walk every day. Not as much as I like, but I can walk for one or two hours. Today I went to the island of Walcheren, just south of Schouwen. Since Roman times, both islands have been inhabited, and Walcheren was a major Viking settlement in the 9th century. 

In the thirteenth century, the people living on the north coast of Walcheren started to dike in the salt marshes. Since then, beach sand from further to the west formed dunes in this area known as Oranjezon, which translates as Orange-sun. Standing on the dunes at sunset, you have a beautiful view towards the orange sun, setting in the west over the North Sea, a sight that somewhat surprisingly has nothing to do with the name Oranjezon. Instead, it refers to the original owners, the Counts of Nassau, later the Princes of Orange. 

Most Koniks walked on the dune on the right, one more on the path on the left (photo: Alexander Verbeek)

Oranjezon is now a nature reserve with a wide variety of plants and animals. Like the Zeepeduinen described in Island Stories #7, semi-feral horses maintain the open dune landscape. But as you can see in the picture, these are different horses; the Konik horse is a breed from Poland. People are advised not to go near the horses because their reactions are unpredictable, so I kept my distance from the beautiful horse, blocking my path, which you can see on the left in this picture. 

---

If you enjoy the summer version of The Planet, with mostly short Island Stories, please consider subscribing to this newsletter, so you can start your day with The Planet and you support independent writing.

---

Notes:

https://www.zeeuwseankers.nl/verhaal/oranjezon-1

https://www.butterfield.com/blog/2016/02/25/in-deep-zeeland/