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 Lübbenau - Spreewald
N 51° 51.974 E 013° 58.403
33U E 429312 N 5746658
A tour through "Germany's Venice"
Waymark Code: WM3BTJ
Location: Brandenburg, Germany
Date Posted: 03/10/2008
Published By: nfa
Views: 80
Friendly people, nature pure and a maze of 800 miles of channels, crisscrossing one of Germany’s largest wildlife refuges. Kayaking can’t get any better than that. You can bring your own boat or you can rent everything for a reasonable price from local outfitters. The water is calm and often less than four feet deep. Just make sure you have a good map and know how to use it.
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Ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last ice age, retracting glaciers carved hundreds of ditches and rifts into a formaly plane landscape.
These ditches were later filled with water from the Spree river, forming 187 square miles (or 120,000 acres) of wetland in a delta system made of tiny channels that often look manmade but really are a freak of nature.
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Unfortunately, we left our camera ashore and only took one of those waterproof one-way cameras with us, resulting in 24 totally underexposed pictures. Here are the only two we were able to rescue:
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Here are some pictures we took on a commercial boat tour earlier that day,
covering pretty much the same area:
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One of the real fun things on this trip was passing through one of the 137 locks that keep a steady water level in the area. Check out our Lock Waymark
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Parking/put-in/launching information:
Park anywhere in town, arrive early for the best parking spots. Top-Coordinates are to the largest parking lot in town.
Paddling conditions to be expected:
Flatwater, very slow current.
Difficulty of the trip:
Beginners level. The maze of channels requires some map-reading skills, otherwise you'll get hopelessly lost.
Length of trip: up to you, the channels have a total length of 800 miles!
Portages:
Lots of self operated locks but no portages. Traveling on water is the normal (sometimes only) mean of transportation in this area. You will not find a more boater friendly area anywhere in the world!
Permits required:
Camping only in designated spots, first come-first serve, no fishing. no other permits required.
Type of trip:
Up to you - the options are endless. Talk to professional outfitters for the best routes.
Other information:
Just enjoy your stay and try not to disturb the people who live there and made this beautiful area accessible to everyone.
Take-out Coordinates: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:Logging waymarks in this category requires a picture of your boat and your GPS at the given parking/launching coordinates,and a brief description of your canoe/kayak trip.
Additional photos and information and/or suggestions for future waymarkers will be appreciated, but is not necessary.
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