AraCityRadio has a new frequency in the south and that’s why we are taking a field trip this week on Local Matters. Today, it is going to take us in nature – so tie your hiking boots – it’s getting muddy.
Every time I meet Nora, it is raining. The sky is grey, raindrops fall from the trees on our heads, the ground is sludgy. Luckily, there is a footbridge leading us through the meadows at Dumontshaff. Nora is prepared: She put the raincoat on, I didn’t. We met at the outskirts of Schifflange, for a walk in the Dumontshaff, a small nature reserve. Dumontshaff is a part of the new Minetttrail, a hiking trail in the South of the country that connects the nature sights with the traces of the industrial culture of the region. Nora Peters is project leader for the Minetttrail at Office Régional de Tourisme Sud. “We want to show the diversity of the Minett-region. The South is often frowned upon, they say it is an industrial zone, it was dirty, there was no nature at all. With the Minetttrail, I think we can convince people of the opposite. We have green woods, the trail crosses eight nature reserves, the opposite of these prejudices that some people have.”
The hiking trail is 90 kilometres long, leads from Bascharage in the west to Bettembourg and Dudelange in the East, connecting villages and towns with the nature sights in the region. Red earth and wooded hills cover the whole region around Esch and Dudelange. The Dumontshaff between Mondercange and Schifflange however is a particular part of the trail. “This is a nature reserve and marshland”, Nora explains. “If you look around, you see and hear a lot of birds, there’s green meadows, a bridge above a small stream. That’s quite romantic for a small picnic.” The river Alzette is not visible in so many parts of the south, in Esch it is even covered with concrete. Here in the Dumontshaff, the river has been renatured and attracts a lot of animals, especially a large variety of birds live in these meadows and around the gentle banks of the Alzette. The Dumontshaff also serves as flood protection. When heavy rains fall, the river has enough space here to flood the meadows, instead of spreading in the towns.