The village of Etne

Much of the sand and gravel that the town of Etne is built on was laid down at the end of the Ice Age and is evidence of melting glaciers and roaring meltwater rivers. The uncompacted material in the big terraces leave their unmistakeable mark on the wide elongated valleys.

Stordalen

When the Etne water system was protected in 1994, preservation of the cultural landscape in Stordalen Valley was a a main objective. This is a valley with an exceptional abundance of Different types of plants and animals. In the grey alder forest in Stordalen there are more bird species than in most other places, in fact, denser than one tends to find in a tropical rainforest.

Bømoen

Brekke

Myrkdalen

SJUR BYGD

Raundalen

Thousands of years ago - when the climate was warmer than today - there was probably a lot of moose in Hordaland. We know this from finds of bone from Stone Age settlements. In modern times moose have been almost completely absent from western Norway, until this "King of the Forest" began its come-back, about fifty years ago.

Ulvund

One of the oldest farms in Myrkdalen, Ulvund, is recognized as one of 14 areas in Hordaland having an especially valuable cultural landscape. The dirt road runs along a steep slope down toward Lake Myrkdalsvatnet. The flattest field, which today is harvested for silage, used to be an old grain field, while the slopes were old hayfields.

Vikafjellet

The largest reindeer herd in Hordaland - outside of Hardangervidda - lives in the mountainous area between Voss/Vaksdal and Sognefjorden.

Vossavangen

Lysekloster- The monks and nature

Lysekloster was the largest agricultural property in the country when it was phased out during the Reformation in 1537. In its prime this cloister encompassed two-thirds of all the farms in Os. The monks introduced and cultivated new plant species and it was probably they who stocked the waters with fish not indigenous to the area. This legacy from the Middle Ages has left a lasting mark.