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ALPINE SAFARI
The Hohe Tauern National Park in Kärnten, Austria, may not have lions, but with chamois,
ibex, vultures, red deer and groundhog, it has an Alpine Big Five every bit as fascinating as
the beasts you’ll see on the savannah – and it’s a lot closer to home
H I K I N G
which lies in the provinces of
Tirol, Salzburg andKärnten.
Conditions on themountain are
extreme: it’s winter for eight
months of the year. But despite
the harsh climate and
topography, the region boasts an
abundance of flora and fauna. A
third of the plants native to
Austria growhere, and it’s home
to around 10,000 animal species.
Take aNational ParkWildlife
Trek and you have a chance to
encounter the Alps’ ‘Big Five’ –
chamois, ibex, bearded vultures,
groundhogs and red deer. The big
advantage with tracking these
Y
ou hear a short blast that
sounds like a wolf-
whistle. But if you look
around, you won’t see any
whistling tourists ambling
through the Alpinemeadows.
That’s because the culprit is
actually a groundhog – or
Mankei
(local dialect for
Männchen
– little
man), as they’re better known in
the region. This Alpinemember
of the gopher family stands up on
its hind legs in order to get a
better viewof its surroundings. If
a colony lookout sees something
that doesn’t belong to its group
(eagles overhead or tourists on
the Alpine pasture), it warns the
rest of its tribe bymaking a loud
whistling sound. Quick as a flash,
the entire colony disappears into
its network of burrows. It’ ll be a
while before they resurface.
But wildlife fans needn’t be
disappointed. There are plenty of
other animals to see in the
natural environs of the
Grossglockner, the highest
mountain inAustria and the
easternAlps. The 3,798m-high
peak is flanked by Austria’s 300
tallest summits, the largest
glacier west of Switzerland and
theHohe TauernNational Park,
beasts is that you can recognise
them froma longway off.
Chamois can jump to an
impressive height of twometres,
and horizontally, a whopping six
metres. They’re the expert
climbers of the Alps, scaling
near-vertical surfaces with
acrobatic ease. These goat
antelopes can also survive year-
long winters. The tuft of black
hair used to decorate hunters’
hats – known as the
Gambsbärte
– is taken from the animal ’s neck.
Alpine ibex goats are striking
creatures with curled horns,
which can reach a metre in
Getty
Das Wettrennen mit dem
Käserad im Südwesten England’s
Glory to the winners, tough
cheese to the losers
Atemb raubender Alp nblick
The Hohe Tauern is home
to Aust ia’s highest p aks