Bears! And also other distractions

[selenak]

Yesterday's hotel was sans internet (yes, that still happens), today's has internet but only in the lobby, which is why you get last week's photos that I've been meaning to share for a while. For verily, in between working I had to chance to walk through the Bavarian Forest near the Czech border (on the other side of the border, it's called the Bohemian Forest), and in this national park era we actually have - well, see for yourselves:








Rare but back in the Bavarian Forest: the lynx (two of them). I kept my mouth shut as not to scare them away, but I felt a lot like squeeing. Not that these aren't predators, but you know what I mean.











Meanwhile, the owls are not what they seem.





Also coming in twos: bears!

















This water runner is not impressed:



And these guys would like you to know they're not American buffalos. They're Bavarian wisents:







Now I've been to Alaska. And Sweden. And Norway. But did I see a single moose? I did not. Had to go to the Bavarian Forest for that one.











And where might these animals be found?





The non-forest part of the countryside looks like this:








Other than forest, the area used to be famous for their glass makers:




One of the more excentric local artists spent a few decades in the Serengeti. Hence:





For a farewell, I made it to the top of the Lusen (highest mountain in the area where I was staying). Usually that's in snow and ice already at this point, but it's still ridiculously warm for November, so:








Now that was last week. This week I'm stuck in rainy cities, not worth taking pictures of. But I might finally have the chance to watch OuaT, so I bid you farewell for now!

Comments

[kalypso]

Gorgeous lynx! Is it looking at you in that third pic? I wasn't quite sure whether the other shots were depicting that self-conscious "I know there's a human looking at me but I'm going to pretend not to notice" air.

[selenak]

It was looking at the guy next to me, whom I was hiking with. :)

[malkingrey]

Lovely pictures! The Bavarian forest looks uncannily like the White Mountains of New Hampshire (where we also have bears, lynx, and moose . . . no wisents, though.)

For example:

White Mountains of New Hampshire USA

[selenak]

The White Mountains definitely look similar!

[goodbyebird]

FLUFFY PILLOW BEARS. I had other remarks, but now is all FLUFFY PILLOW BEARS.

[selenak]

I hear you. :) I found them adorably cute. From a safe distance! (I have a good camera.)

[ratcreature]

I had no idea there were moose in Bavaria. The only moose in Germany I'd heard of were a few ill-advisedly migrating over from Poland who then soon seem to get run over by cars.

[selenak]

Well, these keep wandering between Bavaria and the Czech side of the border, so maybe they were originally Czech?

Anyway, I can assure you I've never seen a moose anywhere else in Bavaria.

[lilacsigil]

This sounds silly, but I always forget that there are large wild animals (other than deer) still in Europe. These photos are amazing!

[selenak]

Well, we don't have as many as the US, not even in percentages per population, not anywhere near that number. Most large aninmals within Germany that I've seen, I've seen in zoos. But then, I had never visited this particular area of Bavaria next to the Czech border before, and it is a National Park for a reason...

[littlerhymes]

Wow, great photos! I especially love the moose and the owl (which seems to be saying O RLY).

[selenak]

He, yes, doesn't it?

[wee_warrior]

Lynxes and mooses and bears, oh my!

Seriously, this is so awesome. There are wild bears in Germany! *squees*

Oh, and the owl is so beautiful - ist das ein Uhu?

[selenak]

Ja, das ist ein Uhu. Ich wußte das englische Wort nicht. :)

And you know, I had no ideas about the bears and lynx, either, before I got there, and certainly not about the moose.

[nenya_kanadka]

Those are THE FLUFFIEST bears. OMG.

And wow. I grew up on a bison farm in Canada and those wisents look an awful lot like 'em. I wonder if they're evolutionarily related in any way?

Exceedingly charming moose. And I love the little elephant sculpture. Is it glass too?

[selenak]

Elephant: is bronze, not glass.

re: bisons - I'm sure they're related! Probably via the Scots exporting some of theirs to Canada...

[nenya_kanadka]

Nono, bison = American buffalo, definitely in America long before the Scots got here. :D

[msilverstar]

That's amazing!

[selenak]

It truly was!