Former border strip - Where there used to be barbed wire - camping on the Green Belt is possible
In Campen, where border guards of the former East German regime once patrolled: In Thuringia, in Lichtenhain/Graefenthal in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district, the first of several planned trekking and nature-friendly overnight accommodation sites along the Green Ribbon is now available, as the Environment Ministry announced.
Thuringia is home to over 763 kilometers of the approximately 1400 kilometers long former inner-German border strip, which today functions as a nature refuge and a reminder of German reunification. It holds the status of a natural monument in the free state.
These overnight accommodations are easily accessible and simple to book for hikers. Environment Minister Bernhard Stengele has already spent a "test night in a tent." The trekking site in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district is an excellent starting or ending point for extensive hikes, according to the Green politician.
Further trekking sites are planned
The Vice-Managing Director of the Thuringia Nature Conservation Foundation, Carlotta Schulz, spoke of a trekking site at a historically significant location. It is located at a former border guard house, which was used by the Bavarian border police from the border opening in winter 1989 to summer 1990.
According to the ministry, as many overnight accommodations as possible along the Green Ribbon should be established by 2025. The opening of a nature-friendly overnight accommodation site in Truckendorf and one in Frankenblick's General's View, both in the Sonneberg district, is planned for 2024.
Natural areas and the unique cultural landscape, including meadows, pastures, and forests, are now accessible through gentle tourism, according to Anja Zachow of the Thuringian Nature Friends on the first site. The Trekking Sites along the Green Ribbon project is being coordinated by the Nature Friends. In addition to the Lichtenstein Border House, there are already opportunities at Blankenstein or the Geopad Pinsenberg in Kroelpa.
Only one overnight stay is allowed
An overnight stay at the first trekking site along the Green Ribbon costs 15 Euros for the first person and 5 Euros for each additional person, according to ministry information. It has space for three two-person tents, infrastructure, and is only bookable for one night.
The Green Ribbon consists of a necklace of various biotopes with a total of 1200 endangered animal and plant species, as well as the still largely preserved column path and the watchtowers of the DDR border posts.
Booking platform for trekking
- The sold-erbarbed wire remnants from the old border guard posts, such as the one converted into a trekking site in Lichtenhain/Graefenthal, are a testament to the region's history of nature conservation in Thuringia.
- Bernhard Stengele, the Environment Minister of Thuringia, praised the trekking site in Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, highlighting its potential as a starting or ending point for long hikes and its alignment with the BMU's plans for nature-friendly tourism.
- As part of the Green Ribbon project, the Thuringia Nature Conservation Foundation is planning additional trekking sites at historically significant locations, like the former border guard house in Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, which was once guarded by the Bavarian border police.
