Sounds of Nature - Black Forest and Mountains in Germany - HD

Recorded on April 27, 2014
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres (4,898 ft). The region is almost rectangular with a length of 160 km (99 mi) and breadth of up to 60 km (37 mi).
The forest mostly consists of pines and firs, chiefly a mixture of the European native Norway Spruce and American imported Douglas Fir and White Pine. Some of them are grown in commercial monoculture. Similar to other forested regions, the Black Forest has had areas that were annihilated by mass logging. Due to logging and land use changes the forest proper is only a fraction of its original size and the original hardwood trees were replaced by fast-growing conifers. The cyclone Lothar downed trees on hundreds of acres of mountaintops in 1999. This left some of the high peaks and scenic hills bare, with only primary growth shrubs and young fir trees.
There are many historic towns in the Black Forest. Popular tourist destinations include Baden Baden, Freiburg, Calw (the birth town of Hermann Hesse), Gengenbach, Staufen, Schiltach, Haslach and Altensteig. Other popular destinations include such mountains as the Feldberg, the Belchen, the Kandel, and the Schauinsland; the Titisee and Schluchsee lakes; the All Saints Waterfalls; the Triberg Waterfalls, not the highest, but the most famous waterfalls in Germany; and the gorge of the River Wutach.