Geology and soil sciences, stones, sand and gravel: Dry as dust science? Anyone who is not a specialist here but just following their hobby, may have their doubts about the fascination of Geoparks! That’s why we at TERRA.vita prefer to speak of “Earth History”, whose cycles and epochal events of the last 300 million years can hardly be documented and read in any other place as completely as in our region. That’s the reason the Nature and Geopark TERRA.vita became the first German, large-scale protected nature reserve in the UNESCO-sponsored, worldwide Geopark network, and was finally distinguished as a “UNESCO Global Geopark.” The prerequisite for this distinction is the existence of very unusual and multifaceted geological conditions – and the preservation of this heritage, including the man-made, thousand-year-old cultural landscape.
For visitors and local guests, we open windows into this Earth history, which in some places also means that you have to go underground. Most of the experiences and educational offerings are of exceptional nature and beauty and can be enjoyed above ground!
Once someone has explored the previously largest stone quarry in Europe, eavesdropped, at 266 meters above sea level, on the history of Tuesday and the Germanic gods, fished sharks teeth out of the ancient North Sea, visited the eternally crouching woman, absorbed the bewitching scents of thousands and thousands of spring blossoms, or hiked through a petrified seabed, they can be nothing but fascinated.