A Natura 2000-protected upland natural park on the Franco-Belgian border in Belgian Hainaut.
Parc naturel des Hauts-Pays
The Parc naturel des Hauts-Pays is a recognized natural park in the Walloon Region of Belgium, located in the province of Hainaut along the border with France. Covering roughly 15,700 hectares and home to about 21,000 inhabitants, it sits on the watershed divide between the Scheldt basin (via the Haine river) and the Meuse basin (via the French stretch of the Sambre), which gives the area its upland character despite modest absolute elevations.
The park's territory spans six communes (Honnelles, Quiévrain, Dour, Colfontaine, Frameries, and Quévy) and includes the Bois de Colfontaine, the Bois d'Angre, and a series of river valleys, promontories, and small villages. It is recognized both as a Walloon natural park (UICN Category V, protected landscape) and as a European Natura 2000 site under the name Haut-Pays des Honnelles, giving it a notable level of formal protection.
What sets Hauts-Pays apart from surrounding areas, including nearby industrial Borinage and the cities of Mons and Valenciennes, is the unusual combination of broadleaf forests, fast-flowing streams, waterfalls, deeply incised valleys, and orchid-rich calcareous grasslands. The park functions as a refuge for plant and animal species whose last Belgian populations lie in this northern fringe of the Sambre-Meuse trough.
