Geography of Austria

Located in Central Europe between Germany, Italy and Hungary, Austria is a small landlocked country, which occupies an area of 83,859 sq.km. It is just about twice the size of Switzerland and a smaller than the state of Maine.

The landscape of Austria is formed by much of the mountainous terrain of the eastern Alps, occupying around 75% of the area. The country is enveloped with many snowfields, glaciers and snowcapped peaks. Grossglockner is the highest point reaching 12,530 ft. The Danube is the principal river, which originates from Donaueschingen in Southwestern Germany and falls into the Black Sea. Forests and woodlands cover about 40% of Austria’s territory. Böhmerwald Forest, a low mountain range with bare and windswept plateaus covers around 10% of Austria's area.

The geographical area of Austria can be divided into 3 main terrains- the dominant part of mountains of the Alps, the Pannonian plain in the east and the Böhmerwald mountain range which lies in the north of River Danube. Alps has three major ranges which include the Northern Calcareous Alps, Central Alps, and Southern Calcareous Alps and they run from west to east of Austria.

Austria has 28% of moderate hilly or flat region, which is formed by the Northern Alpine Foreland along with the Danube Valley, lowlands, hilly regions, rolling hills and Danube Basin. The Southeastern Alpine Foreland also forms part of this moderate flat landscape. A major part of Austria, which is suitable for human settlement, extends from the North of the Alps through the provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria in the Danube Valley, running through Lower Austria, Vienna, Burgenland, and Styria. The least mountainous region is found in the Southeast of low Leithagebirge, where the steppe of the Hungarian Plain begins.

Austria is also a good place for the birth watchers, plant enthusiasts and other worshippers of bio-diversity. The diverse terrain of Austria accounts for a great variety of flora and fauna. The animals from the Central Europe such as deer, stags, rabbits, pheasants, foxes, badgers, martens and partridges are easily found in Austria apart from the Alpine animals, which include Chamois, groundhogs, eagles and mountain jackdaws. The forests of Southern and Central mountains are famous for a variety of small bears. Some the valuable assets of the Austrian fauna are Lipizzaner (natural white horse), Ibex (a mountain goat with long forked horns), marmots and chamois (an antelope like horned goat like). Red-deer stag, fallow-deer stag, mouflon ram, roe-deer buck and wild-boar are also found in other regions of Austrian.

Austria is rich in flora with a wide array of plants and the forests are covered with Oak and beech at low altitudes, while at the higher elevations by conifers, larch and pine. Orchids, edelweiss and poppies are ubiquitous in Austria. Flowers like edelweiss, gentians, alpine carnations, arnicas, alpine roses, heathers, and poppies lend a beautiful natural landscape of Austria. Grazing grounds and meadows are found in northern Alps while scrub forests, deciduous forests and steppe moors also form the main part of flora in Australia.

With many natural parks, nearly three percent of the country's land is occupied by the parks to name a few are Aurach bei Kitzbühel, Game Park Aurach, Bad Gleichenberg, Styrassic Park, Feldkirch, Game Park Ardetzenberg and Gänserndorf, Zoo where you can see deers, wild boars, wood chucks, foxes, yaks, giraffes, rhinos and tigers. The birds of the reed beds around the Neusiedler See include purple heron, spoonbill, and avocet, which are really wonderful.

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