Top 20 Natural Monuments in the Dahme Lakeland

It looks like a mistake of nature – and yet is a masterpiece of survival. Wolzig's burr pine stands like an ancient dancer, balancing barefoot on tiptoes, its exposed roots digging into the sand like fingers. For a hundred years, it has defied wind and man, rain and dune retreat – and seems to have only grown stronger. Here, in the midst of the Brandenburg pine sea, this tree speaks of steadfastness. Of adaptation. And of the quiet dignity of one who does not complain, but grows. Everyone who stands before it suddenly falls silent. Perhaps because they sense: This pine has understood more about life than many a person with sturdy shoes.

You don't often see such an open root system

Very nice, the paths are easy to walk on

The Tornower See is near Tornow, a little south of Teupitz. There is a nature trail. Very nice paths along the bank and in the forest. There are benches and rest areas.

The lake is fed by groundwater and had an outflow towards Dolgensee. In the 1980s, this drain was closed by the forest department as the water level of the lake had fallen. In 1950, the foundation stone for a children's holiday camp was laid on the north bank of the Frauensee, the then pioneer tent camp “M. J. Kalinin”. The Frauensee children's and youth recreation center (KiEZ) is now located there. It has an overnight capacity of 850 beds and has a site of 24 hectares.

Circular route around the Pätz lakes The circular route around the Pätzer Vordersee and Hintersee is a little over 16 kilometers long. It's a trail for all seasons. The start and finish is at the train station “Bestensee”. The path leads along the main road fromBestensee to Pätzer Vordersee and on to Pätz with its historic village green. The place name comes from the Slavic and means something like sand. From here we continue into pure nature! A hundred years ago, the hillsides on the east bank of the Pätzer Hintersee were almost free of forest. A few junipers bear witness to the sparse heathland that once existed here. The lowlands with wet meadows are preserved with the support of landscape conservation. On the southern shore of the Pätzer Hintersee there are large moor areas that have been secured as a nature reserve. The path now leads north. An idiosyncratic pine forest with crooked trees is called Schweinewinkel. This is where the pigs used to be driven into the forest to the Waldwiede. Walking through the Pätz Hintersee settlement, you return to the starting point at the train station. Source https://www.dahme-heideseen-naturpark.de/themen/routen-touren/rundweg-um-die-paetzer-seen/

At the end of the 19th century the area became a popular tourist destination. A number of restaurants were built around the "Tiergarten", of which only "Riedels Gasthof" still exists today. In the course of the prince's settlement in 1926, the forestry office in Königs Wusterhausen became Prussian state property. In 1989, a forest educational trail was laid out in the "Tiergarten" for the first time. In 1994, a forest youth group renewed the nature trail at great expense. For Brandenburg Day 2008, the nature trail was again provided with boards by the forester's office in Königs Wusterhausen. According to the forest function mapping of the state of Brandenburg, the area is designated as a recreational forest.

South of the Staabe and east of the Krimnicksee, the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I, who often stayed at his nearby Wusterhausen hunting lodge, had a zoo laid out in 1725 in a 900-hectare forest area for hunting and to protect the wild stocks. The area is now a recreation area with up to 270-year-old oak trees and has been a nature reserve since 1995 under the name Tiergarten. The Neue Mühle hiking trail leads from Königs Wusterhausen via the castle park and the Neue Mühle lock through the zoo and back to Königs Wusterhausen.