Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft

Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park was created in 1990 on the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and protects some 786 km², most of it marine. It comprises the Darß-Zingst peninsula, the island of Hiddensee, part of western Rügen and the waters and lagoons between them.

Its characteristic feature is the bodden, brackish coastal lagoons cut off from the open sea by constantly forming sand spits. The coast is in permanent motion: the currents erode the cliffs at some points and deposit the sand at others, extending peninsulas and closing off bays. Darßer Ort is one of the few stretches of German coast where that natural process is allowed to act without intervention, and the coastal forest of the Darß grows directly on the dune, with pines deformed by the wind.

Each autumn the region hosts one of the largest concentrations of common crane in Europe: tens of thousands of birds stop over on the bodden during the southward migration, and their arrival draws watchers in large numbers. The park is also home to an important colony of white-tailed eagle, grey seals on the sandbanks and an abundant wintering waterbird fauna.