The Nature park Schaalsee in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern/ Germany

The nature park at Schaalsee stretches from Zarrentin to Ratzeburg and is unique in Central Europe; it displays the typical harmony and life of a fell landscape formed by glaciers and melt waters during the last Ice Age. The Schaalsse is the deepest lake, at 72m., in North Germany and is home to some of the last wild great marane fish. The thinly populated region supports a rich variety of flora and fauna.
	The Lakes with their wide reed beds, bogs, wetlands and copses are home to rare creatures such as otters, cranes, fish eagles, reed warblers and crested newts. Botanical rarities like sundew, cotton grass, orchids, chelones and king fern flourish here too. On Lakes Mechow, Röggelin and Dutzow you can see water birds (e.g. cormorants, sea eagles and several species of goose) in their natural habitat.
The landscape around Groß Salitz and Schoenwolde is also unusual. The ridges here were thrown up during the the last Ice Age and look almost like dams, known in Scandinavian as "Oser", and are quite rare in North Germany. People too have been settled here for the last 1.000 years and have also shaped the landscape with their farming and husbandry. Ornate farmhouses, imposing manors and old churches are witness to the prosperity of earlier generations. One valuable cultural heritage is the charming hedgerow landscape around Techin, with the remains of woods, bogs and wetlands which was shaped by farmers in the 18th. century. Hikers and nature lovers alike will find interesting touring here, for instance along the nature trail an to the Neuenkirchner Seenrinne which runs parallel to the Schaalsee. The trail begins at the church in Neuenkirchen. It is 3 km. long and has four stops; it ends at a viewpoint on Lake Boissow. The nature park at Schaalsee lies on the former inner German border. A walk on the Strangen Peninsula and the Kirchensee will impress on you just how formerly populated regions are taken over again by nature. There is a superb view from the churchyard in Lassahn over the Lassahner part of the Schaalsee with the Isles of Stintenburg and Kampenwerder.