A different kind of Brabant nature
Most visitors to Oisterwijk only get as far as the forests and fens. They are missing half the story. East of the village, where the trees thin and the ground turns wetter, lies Kampina — a separate reserve, also managed by Natuurmonumenten, with a completely different character.
Where the Bossen en Vennen is closed-canopy and intimate, Kampina is open and wide. Where the fens are formal lakes ringed by pine, Kampina has scattered bog pools in a sea of heather and tussock grass. The light is bigger here. The horizons are longer. On a clear day you can see for kilometres.
What it is
Kampina is one of the largest surviving heathlands in the southern Netherlands — roughly 1,200 hectares of wet and dry heath, with patches of broadleaf forest, hay meadows and the upper reaches of the Beerze stream winding through. Most of it sits at the dampest end of the heath spectrum, the kind that botanists call natte heide: cross-leaved heath dominating, cotton grass tufts on the wet patches, sundew where the peat is exposed.
The reserve is grazed by a small herd of Schotse Hooglanders — Scottish Highland cattle — and Galloways, whose job is to crop the grass and tear up scrub before it can colonise the heath. They are good-natured if you leave them alone. Give them space, especially around calves.
"Bossen en Vennen feels like a cathedral. Kampina feels like the sky."
Walking and cycling
Kampina has its own waymarked trails — colour-coded posts like the rest of the system — and several start points on its northern and western edges. From Oisterwijk you can reach the western edge on foot in about half an hour, or by bike in fifteen minutes; many local walkers tack a Kampina loop onto the 14-Fens trail for a full day's expedition.
Cyclists can ride a long perimeter loop on the network paths, but the interior is largely for walkers. Some of the most rewarding stretches are the boardwalks across the wetter bogs, where the heath turns mossy underfoot and the bog asphodel flowers in late summer.
What to look for
- Cattle — both Highlands and Galloways, free-roaming year-round. Calm, large, leave them be.
- Heath flora — purple in August, copper in October, green in spring, gold-brown in winter.
- Red deer and roe deer — often more visible here than in the forest because the cover is thinner.
- Adders and lizards — sand lizards bask on south-facing trail edges in spring.
- Birds of open country — stonechat, woodlark, tree pipit, and the rare nightjar at dusk.
- The Beerze stream — clear, sand-bedded, kingfishers along its course.
When to come
Each season transforms Kampina more dramatically than the forest. August turns the heath to a sheet of purple that has to be seen to be believed. October brings hard low light and stags roaring. April and May are when the woodland edges and the spring meadows flower. Winter is bleak in the best way — pale grasses, frost-stiff bog, a great place to see a hen harrier hunting low.
Combining Kampina with Oisterwijk
The two reserves complement each other so well that we'd argue you can't really say you've seen Oisterwijk's nature unless you've crossed into Kampina. A good plan for a full day: park at Groot Speijck, walk the southern half of the 14-Fens loop until you cross into Kampina at the eastern edge, do a circuit of the wet heath, and come back through the woods. That's about eighteen kilometres and one of the best walking days in southern Holland.
Practicalities
Several parking spots ring the reserve. The most useful for an Oisterwijk-based day is on the western edge near Heukelom. Dogs on a lead, as always. The reserve is free, open year-round, and unsigned in places where the heath itself is the path — bring a map.