Tiengemeten
The island of Tiengemeten lies in the Haringvliet river, which is part of the extensive delta area located in the southwest of Holland, 30 km south of Rotterdam. It is reachable only by ferry and no cars are allowed on the island.
Getting to the origines of the name “Tiengemeten” is a question of doing some very basic calculus combined with some very old fashioned grammar. In the 17th century the island started out as a small sandy island of roughly 12 acres (5 hectare). In the old days, one “gemet” was refered to an area of about 1.2 acres/0.5 hectare. So, you need ten “gemeten” to get to 12 acres/5 hectare, hence the name Tiengemeten. Since the 17th century it has expaned from 12 acres to about 2200 acres (900 hectares).
Tiengemeten is a so called delta island, which makes it quite unique in both geography and wildlife. The different areas on the island continuously shift from land to water and vice versa, making the island change shape constantly and attracting a wide variety of aquatic birds and animals. Because of these unique features the Dutch government decided to turn it into natural reserve in the late 1980′s. The few farmers and inhabitant that lived on the island voluntarily moved to the mainland leaving their empty farms and houses behind. Tiengemeten is now a place where nature take its course and it provides a quiet place for walking, cycling and bird watching. I mainly went there to experience the total silence and wide empty views, which are quite an interesting thing to find within one of the worlds’ most densely populated areas.
