Forsakar Ravine – Among giants and waterfalls – Skåne

The visit to Åhus was made in connection with a press trip with Visit Kristianstad, but all thoughts and opinions are, as usual, my own.

The beech forest is green. The greenery almost blinds me. We walk among freshly laid beech leaves with last year's fire-yellow dried leaves rustling at our feet. I stop and listen. Treekronorna are full of birdsong. Spring is truly here today.

I am at the Forsakar nature reserve, which is just east of Degeberga village in Kristianstad municipality. Here there is not only a beautiful gorge, but also two of Skåne's highest waterfalls. I have to admit that I never associated Skåne with waterfalls. Skåne has always felt pleasantly hilly. Such a nice easy ramp with a bike. How then can there be a waterfall here? But I don't have to think long. Suddenly we hear the sound of rushing water.

There is a viewpoint at the upper waterfall. The stand takes 20 people, so we can all go down and have a look. It is not difficult to understand why the legends of the area speak of the necks, woodpeckers and the wood grouse. A beautiful place like this has something magical about it. The dense beech forest, the rippling water and the steep ravine edges are like taken from a fairy tale.

We walk towards the bottom of the gorge and are met by a sign. Here you may only pass at your own risk. Several of the trees on the high ravine slopes have rotted and are at risk of falling. The sun is shining, there is almost no wind and the ground is very dry. I decide to hike to the lower fall, alert for leaning trees and without leaving the path. If it had been raining and windy, I would not have chosen to continue.

The ravine is said to have been created by giants. The most likely theory is that the gorge was created by meltwater from the Ice Age. But who really knows?

In places, the gorge is up to 40 meters deep and partly just as steep. Trunks and roots lie like picking sticks at the bottom of the ravine. It is clear that the warning that the trees may fall is real.

Ferns grow along the stream. Ancient and exotic, with beautiful little "knurls" of new leaves. Ferns are one of my favorite plants, everything feels greener and nicer when I walk around ferns. By the way, did you know that there is no plant called fern? Ferns are a division of plants, with almost 10.000 species around the world.

The sun struggles to reach down into the gorge with its rays and sometimes I can feel the heat of the rays through the foliage. But most of the time the sun doesn't reach the bottom of the gorge. Where the sun never reaches. Almost sounds like a book title. Here in the beech forest.

We arrive at the lower waterfall, which is almost 3 meters higher than the upper waterfall. Fallen trees, autumn-colored leaves and moss-covered rocks frame the fall. This is not the world's tallest waterfall, but it definitely has one of Sweden's finest settings.

We turn back. The birdsong is strong where the gorge is deepest. According to information signs, there should be current transformers here. The black and white little bird that can dive into the flowing water, seemingly completely fearless and can swim with its wings like a penguin. Maybe it's the streamers singing to me today, at least I don't recognize the song.

On the way back to the car, I smell a little extra on the moss-covered stones and the moss-covered roots of the old stumps. This fragrance that is found in so many men's perfumes. The smell of moss and forest. Everything ultimately comes back to nature. We want to smell like a forest after the rain or like a salty sea breeze in the warm midsummer sun. Flowers, grass and moss. The scent of a sense of freedom.

How do I get to Forsakar?

Forsakar nature reserve is outside Degeberga in Kristianstad municipality in eastern Scania. The upper waterfall is located by an easily accessible path on the edge of the gorge. The lower waterfall is located by a path that is not maintained and visitors are therefore advised not to use the path.

297 Degeberga
Map

If you want to read more about Forsakar, look at Vattenriket's side of the nature reserve.

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