The first mudflat organization in the Netherlands is Stichting Wadloopcentrum Pieterburen. It now organizes about 12 different trips through the eastern Wadden Sea from May to October every year, most of which are Experience Tours. Experience tours are characterized by fewer kilometers, less mud, less deep channels, but more storytelling by the guides about the Wadden Sea, flora and fauna, the islands, etc. The Wadloopcentrum Pieterburen Foundation is also an ambassador for the Wadden Sea World Heritage. There are currently 8 mudflat organizations, 3 of which are larger. The organizations have two years of joint guide training. Textbooks are written by people from the mudflat walking organizations. The organizations have drastically reduced the number of participants per trip. Since 1996, there has been a mudflat walking ordinance that states that a group may consist of a maximum of 60 participants.
History of mudflat-walking
Around 1956, a number of Groningen students started trying to cross the Wadden Sea to walk to the islands. They had to find the route experimentally. They also gave lectures with slides about this. That made a number of people in the vicinity of Pieterburen enthusiastic to organize this mudflat hiking. The first time was a winter trip through the ice landscape of a frozen Wadden Sea in the winter of 1962/63. That turned out to be successful. The organizers then explored the routes to the different islands and organized these trips over the following years. With great success because many participants came. In the 1970s, 1000 participants sometimes walked on a trip to Schiermonnikoog. At the turn of the century, a trend was noticeable in which participants wanted to experience the Wadden Sea, but did not want the mudflats and the deep channels.
