The Danish Wadden Sea National Park was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list  on June 23th 2014.
The list includes now a little more than 1000 natural and cultural wonders in the world.

The Dutch and German parts of the Wadden Sea were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2009.

To be worthy of inclusion on this list the site must be of outstanding universal value – and “contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance”

Approximate 12 mill migratory birds are passing by the Wadden Sea National Park in Denmark, Germany and Holland every spring and autumn to be fed up before flying on to their breeding grounds in north in spring and back to their winter grounds in south in autumn. The Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of tidal flats world wide.
The cartoon “Flyway Bird Migration” follows the migratory birds on their annual cycle between Arctic and Africa: Flyway Bird Migration

At Danhostel Ribe we are National Park Partners and next-door neighbour to the National Park.
The official opening of the Wadden Sea National Park took place outside the hostels windows on the “Meadow of the Heads”  on October 16th. 2010 with the participation of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim, Danish Minister of Environment Karen Ellemann and the mayor of Esbjerg Municipality Johnny Søtrup .

The Wadden Sea National Park – Denmark’s largest national park
The Wadden Sea National Park covers large parts of the coastal area between Ho Bay in the north and the Danish-German border in the south.  A distance of 100 km as the crow flies divided among four municipalities: Varde, Fano, Esbjerg and Tonder.

Unesco World Heritage in Denmark
Denmark has now 5 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
3 cultural and 2 natural. Futhermore Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle became Natural Unesco World Heritage in 2004

The 3 Cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites are:

• Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church (1994)
• Kronborg Castle (2000)
• Roskilde Cathedral (1995)

The 2 Natural Unesco World Heritage Sites are:

• The Wadden Sea on the West Coast of Denmark (2014)
• Stevns Cliff in southeastern Zealand (2014)

 All photos © Gudrun Rishede, Danhostel Ribe.

• See lovely photos and a video from one of Vadehavscentret ved Ribe’s guided family tours in the Wadden Sea: Sea Explorer
• Listen to Wadden Sea Songs, among others the National Park anthem “Gryden” (The Dip) from the launch of “Sea Scape – Wadden Sea Songs” album at Danhostel Ribe in 2013:
  Wadden Sea Music

Kort dansk referat

Den Danske del af Nationalpark Vadehavet er i dag blevet UNESCO  Verdensarv sammen med Stevns Klint.
I forvejen havde følgende steder i Danmark opnået at blive optaget på Verdensarvlisten: Jellingstenene, Roskilde Domkirke, Kronborg slot,  og Ilulissat isfjord, hvis vi skal tage Grønland med.

Nationalpark Vadehavet er Danmarks største nationalpark. Cirka 12 mill trækfugle passerer nationalparken i Danmark, Tyskland og Holland i trækperioden hvert forår og efterår.
Nationalparken blev indviet på Hovedengen udenfor vandrerhjemmet i Ribe i 2010.