Volunteers wanted to guide visitors through Hallerbos

The famous Hallerbos in Flemish Brabant, the forest filled with bluebells that attracts thousands of visitors from home and abroad every spring, is looking for volunteer stewards. The stewards’ job, according to the Flemish Agency for Nature and Woodlands, will be to keep visitors on the paths that criss-cross the forest, located in Halle, just outside Brussels in Flemish Brabant.

Millions of bluebells, part of the hyacinth family, bloom in the undergrowth of the forest every April, producing a vivid violet-blue carpet of flowers. The natural phenomenon has become a major attraction for tourists and locals alike, leading to concerns about the state of the forest.

There is a ban on picking the flowers, but access to the forest is not restricted. Some visitors not only stray from the designated paths, they take flowers home with them.

Volunteers who can speak Dutch are required for weekends and holidays from 15 April to 7 May to guide visitors through the maze of paths and remind them about the rules. Interested parties can send an email to groenendaal.anb@vlaanderen.be or call 02 658 24 60 by 6 March.

Photo: Donar Reiskoffer/Wikimedia