Meter-thick trunks, wild cats and a village submerged in the lake: the Kellerwald National Park in Northern Hesse has been classified as a World Heritage Site. When you visit there you feel transported to Middle-earth – or is it the Mediterranean?
Hermann Bieber spotted the brown gill carrier straight away. The little larva in the mountain stream will one day become a fire salamander. At this stage the amphibian does not yet have the typical black and yellow pattern, but is well camouflaged in the rocky silt. “You need luck to see you,” says the tall ranger. But of course he has an eye for the rare animals and plants in the basement forest. For the red kite circling in the air. Or for the golden yellow goatee, which is aptly called coral, although it is a forest mushroom.