A true Bavarian celebrates Oktoberfest, in south-west Germany the wine festival is the event of the year and on the German-Belgian border, people celebrate the daffodil festival. To get straight to the point: No, the daffodils are not being instrumentalised here to create another opportunity for a tasty get-together. It’s about nature conservation.
Every year from March to May, millions of wild daffodils bloom in the meadows of the Olef Valley. Until the 1950s, the meadows were used by farmers to harvest hay. They were fertilised with nutrient-rich stream water and only mowed after the daffodils had flowered. The fertiliser and the late mowing were ideal conditions for the daffodils to grow. Then the farmers realised that it was no longer worth maintaining the meadows. The yields were too low and the effort too great. So from then on, they harvested the hay from areas close to the farm and used mineral fertiliser. The daffodil meadows were afforested. Spruce trees now grew there. As a result, the daffodils had too little light to grow. At the end of the seventies, there was a turnaround. The nearby Perlen and Fuhrtsbach valleys were declared a nature reserve in 1976 and further afforestation was prevented. However, the diversity of plants and animals could not be restored as a result. But that is exactly what they wanted to achieve in the Oleftal. The Loki Schmidt Foundation bought a meadow there and conservationists from Belgium and Germany began to remove the spruce trees. In 1987, the NRW Foundation also purchased land. Gradually, more and more spruce trees were cleared and there was more space for the daffodils. The fact that the daffodils and many other animal and plant species are back is celebrated every year by conservationists at the Daffodil Festival.
The Oleftal valley is a popular destination for hikers. There are two circular hiking trails. They are not barrier-free. If you don’t want to hike on your own, you can register online for a guided tour. These are offered by the North Eifel Nature Park during the flowering months and cost around five euros for adults and three euros for children. There are rules to ensure that visitors can enjoy the daffodils every year: The daffodils may not be picked, dug up or trampled flat, as they are rare. In Germany, wild daffodils can only be found in the region around the Olef Valley and in the Hunsrück.
A tip for hikers: If you see a lot of daffodils in one place, be careful not to step into an anthill. There are usually lots of ants near daffodils. They help the daffodils to spread their seeds.
Before setting off on a hike, it is worth taking a look at the daffodil ticker, which shows the current flowering status. The ticker is updated by the municipality of Hellenthal approximately every two days during the flowering months: https://www.hellenthal.de/freizeit- tourismus/sehenswertes/narzissenbluete (only in German)
Photo: wild daffodils in Oleftal; Credits: Josefina Evers
