Where to see seals in the wild in The Netherlands?
Traveling through The Netherlands along the coast, I often see signs or publicity involving seals. Googling for it you find only amusement parks or zoos that have seals.
Is there any place where you can actually see seals in the wild? Is there a season for it?
I know there are a couple of "sanctuaries" for seals and places where they are rehabilitated if injured. Although not my primary goal, if seals can't be found in the wild I would like to visit such a place.
Best Answer
You should not just go to the coast and hope to see seals, first of all, they are often not where you would expect them and secondly, they are often in reserves and off limits for visitors.
A quick search in Dutch does bring up quite a few options, search words -zeehonden kijken in het wild-.
One mentions that 'wad lopen' mudflat hiking often gives the option to see seals.
Other options include boat tours from Texel, from Ameland, from Terschelling. All of those are islands around the 'Waddenzee', in English they are called Frisian islands but not all belong to the province of Friesland (Frisia.)
One site mentions options to see seals in Zeeland, the area of islands on the Dutch west coast near Belgium.
Non of the sites I saw today did seem to have an English version, but there might be some.
While there are many options mentioned in the search, I would not say that one site stands out for me. In your case I would walk in at a tourist information office somewhere in the Netherlands and ask for them to arrange joining a tour. Or just do your mudflat hiking and hope for a change meeting.
There does not seem to be a season, but there are two short seasons where the seals may not be disturbed, which is when they have young, and the different kinds of seals have different seasons. For one kind I found 'spring and summer' for the other kind September to December. In short, ask at the tourist information office, they will know for their region and likely for all of the country.
Pictures about "Where to see seals in the wild in The Netherlands?"
Where can you see seals in the wild?
Seals are found along most coasts and cold waters, but a majority of them live in the Arctic and Antarctic waters. Harbor, ringed, ribbon, spotted and bearded seals, as well as northern fur seals and Steller sea lions live in the Arctic region.When can you see seals in Texel?
Grey seal pups are born in winter and, from late November onwards, you can spot the first seal pups on Texel's mudflats and beaches.Where can you see seals in Europe?
There are about 100,000 harbour seals in Europe. About 30% of this population is found in UK waters, and 80% of these in Scottish waters. The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) is only found in the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and the Barents Sea.Where can I see seal puppies?
Find seal pups- Alderney Wildlife Trust. You can catch a glimpse of grey seals at Alderney's West Coast and Burhou Islands Ramsar Site and Longis Bay within Longis Nature Reserve.
- Cumbria Wildlife Trust. ...
- Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. ...
- Manx Wildlife Trust. ...
- Elsewhere.
#37 Wild seals from Ameland, an island in The Netherlands 野生のアザラシを見に行こう!
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Magda Ehlers, Pascal Renet, Ella Wei, Adrian Serbanescu