The trend was already striking before Corona. And the pandemic has given traveling with tents or mobile homes an extra boost. However, are campsites closed or fully booked, do some campers venture into the great outdoors? and become disturbers. The protected areas are particularly sensitive. The Bavarian Forest National Park sounded the alarm a few weeks ago because more and more wild campers were staying overnight in the protected area with and without tents. Sometimes a fire is made, garbage is left lying around.
Allowed up to ten hours on the hiking car park
The boom in the mobile home industry cannot be overlooked in Main Franconia either: the official parking spaces are well occupied or fully booked everywhere. And more overnight stays are also observed in the hiking car parks such as in the Rhön. This is not forbidden, as the local nature park association says. Press spokeswoman Anna-Lena Bieneck points out that breaks of up to ten hours are permitted in hiking parking lots. They have therefore not yet been blocked by the municipalities or district offices.
In the first year of lockdown, there were sometimes massive problems with inconsiderate mobile homes and tent campers, especially in the Lange Rhön nature reserve. The situation had “escalated”, the long-time area manager of the Wildland Society Torsten Kirchner complained in the summer of 2020. A nature park ranger spoke of a “significantly worsened disruption since Corona”. You encounter ignorance, ignorance and audacity.
Motorhome enthusiasts could not only be found on the hiking parking lots, but also on gravel roads or even in the meadows. Some would even have emptied their chemical toilet there. One problem: Certain places are recommended to campers over the Internet as “insider tips” ?? For example, the parking lot on the Black Moor with its sanitary facilities.
Because of the great demand, there are now extra apps on the market: They should give motorhome owners nice parking spaces? and spare nature. At www.stellplatz-rhoen.de, for example, regional parking spaces, for example on farms or at guest houses, can be reported. The principle is similar at AlpacaCamping GmbH from Mutzenroth (district of Schweinfurt), which offers an online platform.
In the second Corona summer, the situation relaxed a little. Perhaps also because more holidays are possible again across Europe. “Every now and then,” says Anna-Lena Bieneck from the Bavarian Rhön Nature Park Association, you come across wild campers. In the protected areas this could have “fatal consequences for the flora and fauna”.
Up to 2500 euros fine for staying overnight in the nature reserve
Bieneck points out that the Langen Rhön and the nature reserves of the biosphere reserve are particularly sensitive and threatened with extinction. Yet. Therefore, the urgent appeal applies not to leave the designated paths and places. Anyone who does it must expect an advertisement. And that can be expensive.
Wild camping is not a trivial offense: Anyone who parks their motorhome to sleep in a nature reserve or sleeps in a tent has to be loud in Bavaria Catalog of fines Expect a fine of up to 2500 euros, in landscape protection areas it is up to 1500 euros. It means: pay attention to the corresponding signs and best find out beforehand.
139 nature reserves on more than 22,000 hectares are shown only in Lower Franconia. By far the largest, each with over 3000 hectares, are the Lange Rhön, the Black Mountains and core areas of the biosphere reserve in the Rhön. The smaller ones include the Hafenlohrtal (district Main-Spessart), the Zeubelrieder Moor near Theilheim or the Altmain near Volkach (both districts of Würzburg). With 39 areas, they are significantly fewer in number, but with almost 400,000 hectares in total, they are much larger Lower Franconian landscape protection areas.
Hardly any problems in Steigerwald, Spessart and at Volkacher Mainschleife
In the Rhön Biosphere Reserve, people are happy to be far away from conflicts like those in the Bavarian Forest. Nevertheless, one wants to keep an eye on the development, says spokeswoman Bieneck. According to ranger Pawel Malec, no problems with wild campers have been reported in the Steigerwald Nature Park. The situation in the Spessart is similar: “No serious incidents,” reports ranger Victoria Schuler.
Presumably, the offer of designated parking spaces for mobile homes also helps at the Volkacher Mainschleife. “Almost every neighboring community has created one over the years,” says tourism boss Marco Maiberger. The parking spaces are currently well used, albeit significantly less than in the Corona boom year 2020. Wild camping plays practically no role: “These are isolated cases. Most of them stick to the rules of the game.”
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