Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the longest. The Inn and the Isar flow down from the Alps into the Danube, the former at
Passau, the latter near Deggendorf on the edge of the Bavarian Forest. Germany's main
south-north river, the mighty Rhine, divides the Black Forest from France and Switzer-
land.
Wildlife
The most common large forest mammal is the red deer, a quick-footed fellow with skinny
legs supporting a chunky body. Encounters with wild boar, a type of wild pig with a keen
sense of smell but poor eyesight, are also possible, especially in the Bavarian Forest.
Beavers faced extinction in the 19th century
not only because they were coveted for their
precious pelts (beaver hats were all the rage),
but also because they were cooked up in strict
Catholic households each Friday since the
good people considered them to be 'fish'.
Reintroduced in the mid-1960s, beavers are
thriving once again, especially along the
Danube, between Ingolstadt and Kelheim, and its tributaries.
Lynxes actually died out in Germany in the 19th century but in the 1980s Czech author-
ities released 17 lynxes in the Bohemian Forest, and a small group of brave souls have
since tried their luck again in the Bavarian Forest right across the border. There have even
been rare sightings around the Feldberg in the southern Black Forest.
In the Alps, the Alpine marmot, a sociable chap that looks like a fat squirrel, lives in
burrows below the tree line, while wild goats make their home in the upper mountains.
The snow hare, whose fur is white in winter, is also a common Alpine denizen. The en-
dangered
Auerhuhn
(capercaillie), a grouselike bird, also makes its home here and in the
Bavarian Forest. Lizards, praying mantids and European bee-eaters live in the sunny
Kaiserstuhl area.
Local skies are home to over 400 bird species, from white-backed woodpeckers and
pygmy owls to sparrowhawks, grey herons, jays and black redstarts. The Wutach Gorge in
the Black Forest is a unique habitat that supports such rare birds as treecreepers and king-
fishers, as well as many species of butterflies, beetles and lizards.
The Black Forest straddles the Continental Divide.
Water either drains into the north-flowing Rhine,
which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, or into the
east-flowing Danube, which empties into the Black
Sea.
