Germany’s canal village keeps 129-year mail-by-boat tradition alive

In the Spreewald Forest Delta southeast of Berlin, postal worker Andrea Bunar has returned to delivering mail by barge as spring opens the waterways. After months of winter rounds by car, the 55-year-old is back steering through narrow rivers and creeks around Lehde.

The village, about 100 kilometres from Berlin, is the only place in Germany where post still arrives by boat. Bunar has worked the route for 14 years, carrying around 600 letters and 80 parcels each week along an eight-kilometre circuit.

The Spreewald, a UNESCO biosphere with more than 300 kilometres of waterways, has long shaped local life. In winter, frozen paths make deliveries slower and more difficult by road.

In spring and summer, Bunar uses a single oar to steer her yellow barge, dropping mail directly into riverside postboxes, a routine that has continued for 129 years.