The Song of the Wild Geese - Discovery Tour

Anyone who wants to explore this unique piece of nature must travel by car. Many species of birds live here in the open country, away from traffic. When you return to the car park at the entrance to the town after this hike around the Altfriedländer Klostersee, you will have seen a breathtaking bird world that you will not soon forget. The Altfriedländer ponds are a European bird sanctuary and belong to the Märkische Schweiz nature park. Two observation points offer a unique view when the cranes and wild geese fly to their sleeping places in the ponds in the evening. Sea eagles and red kites live here alongside them, as they are guaranteed to have plenty of prey.
On the edge of the Oderbruch, where the Stöbber flows into the “Alte Oder”, a large number of shallow ponds were created between 1968 and 1972 by damming and embanking, of which the Kietzer See is the largest at around 200 hectares. Since the reduction in carp farming, the bird life here has changed, and today it is more like that of a shallow lake. Around 600 cranes use the area as a roosting water in the autumn. So far, more than 120 species of birds have been identified here, including common terns, black-headed gulls, herring gulls, lapwings, goosander and great egrets. In autumn, the Langes Haus association offers hikes
to the goose resting places. With or without binoculars, you can watch countless wild geese gathering at Kietzer Lake to migrate south.
On the route you will find the monastery ruins, the monastery church, the monastery tavern and the monastery lake with a large lawn on the bathing beach.

Length: 5,9 km, approx. 3 hours

Start / Finish: Klostersee Altfriedland circular route (municipality of Neuhardenberg)

Arrival by car:  via B167 near Altfriedland 

Sights: 

• Altfriedland monastery ruins
• Altfriedland monastery church
• former Altfriedland estate park
• bird watching platform
• Heimatstube "Langes Haus"

Maps/Literature: 

• On the way in the Oderbruch free in the shop
• "Seenland Oder-Spree: Cycling and Adventure Map", scale 1:100.000 / 1:175.000, edition: 4 (August 2017), 6,90 € in the shop
• brochure "Explorer Tours"