Selfie invasion
Belgian forest survived wars, but faces new threat,
Near Halle, Belgium, the Hallerbos’s bluebell bloom rivals the expanse of the Wizard of Oz’s poppy field (but it’s far less deadly). Blue blossoms carpet the forest floor for a few weeks every April, tempting a growing number of tourists and photographers to visit.
The forest has a long history dating to the year 686, but was nearly destroyed by the German army during the First World War. Most of its original trees were felled, and wild bluebells took over and spread across more than 300 acres. When the forest became the property of the Belgian government following the war, it was reforested and remains under the government’s care today.
Since April 7, the management agency at Belgium’s Hallerbos national forest has been posting near daily updates heralding the beginnings of their legendary bluebell bloom. “It’s not the deep blue purple carpet yet, but the typical fairy tale starts spreading in the forest,” it posted on April 9.
“There are more blooming bluebells every day. The flanks of the valleys as well are slowly changing from green to purple blue,” it relayed on April 13. Each post features a video to help tourists gauge when the blooms are hitting their peak, but the tone shifted on the next day.
“Please stay on the paths at all times,” the April 14 post directed in bold after giving its update on beech leaves and the “purple blue flower carpet.”
And last Sunday, the agency explained that there are “a lot of official paths along which this wonderful spring event can be enjoyed,” but a lot of visitors “walk on tree leaves or through the flowers, or to sit down in the flowers to take pictures. That is a big pity, because that is exactly what bluebells cannot handle . . . By trampling them, this tiny flower bulb is destroyed and there will not be a flower, only a bare patch next year.”
“This fairy tale forest is so much more beautiful without trampled flowers and barren patches,” the agency noted in Tuesday’s update.
The sea of blue blooms makes the perfect backdrop for portraits. But as this year’s blossom season nears its end, the forest management agency says that all the photographers and visitors have created patches that have merged into paths through the blooms. These bald areas won’t create more flowers next year, they write. Only time will tell if the flower carpet can survive the invasion of iPhone-wielding tourists 100 years after it survived the Germans.