German Bight

The German Bight contains some of Germany's largest national parks by area, the aim of which is to protect the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the "nature" category.

Despite or maybe because of its unique natural environment, the German Bight is also subject to intense economic and recreational use with the Wadden Sea being one of Germany's most popular tourist destinations.

The German Bight has also played an important role as a shipping lane since medieval times with the approach to the Port of Hamburg passing through it and then the Elbe River estuary.

While the mudflats are usually barred to anything but foot traffic and more heavily protected areas of the national parks are off-limits to all but scientists, there is a scheduled horse drawn carriage service from the mainland to Neuwerk locally known as a Wattwagen (mud flats wagon).

In the past those were sail bogeys, but nowadays most are diesel driven draisines with battery-electric railcars increasingly gaining ground.