National Park Hainich
Lots of wild animals such as wild cats, deer, roe deer and wild boars can be observed from a high seat in the National Park Hainich. Some of the animals are extremely shy, so that even rangers often just manage to get sight of them by using hidden cameras
The park itself has an area of 7600 hectares and it is located in Hainich, a forested ridges in the northwest of Thuringia. With a total area of about 16,000 hectares the National Park Hainich is the largest contiguous forest area of Germany which can be found in the triangle of the Thuringian cities of Eisenach, Muehlhausen and Bad Langensalza.
Typical of the National Park Hainich are many small canyons. Apart from that, around fifty different species of trees are there in the park. These include beech, oak, ash and the rare chequers tree.
For many years military had determined the history of the area. From the thirties on it was used as a tank training ground for the "Wehrmacht". Then, after 1945 the area was taken over by the Red Army. From 1965 onwards the National People's Army of the GDR also used the area for training. The civil population was excluded and as a result of Germany´s division the whole area was out of the way and isolated, because it was very close to the former inner German border, the so-called "Iron Curtain."
It was only after the political change in Eastern Europe and Germany's reunification in 1990 when Hainich became of public interest again. The time of military was over and after the first excursions to Hainich it soon became obvious to nature protection specialists that an extremely valuable nature paradise had been able to develop in the shadow of the Iron Curtain. However, certain small areas were damaged because of the tanks and shelling. But more important was the fact that hardly any forestry had taken place in the large wooded parts of the military training area. Therefore, a unique jungle with forest stands that cannot be found anywhere else could grow right in the heart of Germany until today.