The Donauleiten from Passau to the border near the Jochenstein hydroelectric power station are a natural paradise. With its rugged rocks, the steep slopes on which oak trees reach into the sky, the cool, damp ravine forests and the bare log heaps, experts consider the last kilometers of the Danube in Bavaria to be one of the most impressive river landscapes in Central Europe. At the same time, the Donauleiten are extremely rich in species. Experts have documented around 450 plant species and more than 2,000 animal species there. These include an enormous number of reptiles, such as the rare Aesculapian snake and the eastern green lizard. But eagle owls, spring frogs and stag beetles also live here. The Donauleiten are strictly protected – according to German and European nature conservation law. The fish world in the river is also very diverse. Even the sterlet lives here. The sturgeon species is rarely found in any river in Europe.
Bavaria’s largest storage power plant could be built on the Danube – Bavaria
