Tatra Mountains

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Description

Both Slovak and Polish sides are protected as national parkland and are popular destinations for winter and summer sports. The Tatras are home to wildlife including the Tatra chamois, marmot, lynx and bears. Slovakia has the highest mountain in the range: 2,655m Gerlach Peak. On the shores of streams, on the outlet of big Tatra valleys, there are both deciduous riparian-type forests as well as beach wood forests with a dash of pine tree. They quickly give place to spruce and fir forests, transforming into a strip of dwarf mountain pine, alternating with rowanberry and lofty Swiss stone pines, subsequently turning into mountain pastures or large meadows used to pasture the sheep and in winter serving as an exzellent ski area. There are no glaciers in Tatra Mountains. On the height where there is actually cold enough during the whole year the slopes are to steep, so that they could hold any larger amounts of snow. The remaining of the ice age is a group of 200 unusually picturesque mountain lakes.