BELGIUM

BELGIUM / BELGIQUE - BELGIË.

High Fens Nature Reserve.
First stamp in a set of 2, issued on 11.03.1967.
Face value: 1 Belgian franc.
Design: Jean van Noten (1903-1982).
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 4,500,000 copies.
Size: 41 x 28 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 1486.
- COB No. 1408.
- Michel No. 1468.
- Scott No. 683.
- StampWorld No. 1474.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2009.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1408.

The High Fens (French: Hautes Fagnes; German: Hohes Venn; Dutch: Hoge Venen) are a plateau in the province of Liège, east of Belgium and adjacent parts of Germany, between the Ardennes and the Eifel highlands. It is the largest nature reserve in Belgium, declared as such in 1957. It covers an area of 45 km² (17.37 sq mi) and since 1971 has been part of the German-Belgian cross-border High Fens - Eifel Nature Park. Its highest point (which is also the highest in Belgium) is Signal de Botrange, at 694 m (2,277 ft). The reserve is covered with alpine sphagnum raised bogs (not "fens" as the name would imply); the bogs, which are over 10,000 years old, with their unique subalpine flora, fauna and microclimate, are key to the conservation of the park.