NATURE

NATURAL BEAUTIES People who like outings and hiking have a wide choice in our country. Except for the sea, the

Czech Republic has almost everything to offer. There are mountain ranges along the borders where

many rivers have their source, e.g. the Elbe in the Giant Mountains, the Vltava in the Šumava Mountains and the Morava in the Jeseníky Mountains. The highest ground above sea level is in the Giant Mountains. From their highest peak, Sněžka, one can see steep wooded hillsides, glacial valleys, or mountain meadows with rare specimens of flora growing only in these mountains. Much of the area is protected as a national reserve. If you set out on a trip along tourist footpaths, you can admire mountain streams, gorges, waterfalls and wild life. Some mountains, such as the

Šumava, boast a primeval forest, swamps, but also picturesque torrents like the Vydra, with boulders, waterworn rocks and rapids.

In the mountains you are far from civilization - there are only scattered human settlements - but as the hillside slopes to the foot of the mountains, you can see signs of human presence again, flocks of sheep and herds of cattle grazing on pastureland.

Inland there are highlands, hilly country with mild slopes, woodlands and groves which alternate with lowlands along big rivers. In the lowlands and highlands most of the farmland extends across fields where corn, potatoes, sugar-beet, hops, fruit and vegetables are grown.

A region of spectacular beauty is South Bohemia. It is a gently rolling country with coniferous and leafy trees and many lakes which originally were built for raising fish but now they are also used for recreation. Even if you want to see barren rocks, you will not be disappointed when you visit the Adršpach or Prachov Rocks, the bizarre sandstone rock towns with a number of fantastic and romantic rock formations.

You can also find karst caves here, such as the Koněprusy Caves in the environs of Prague, adorned with stalactites and stalagmites, or the whole complex of the Moravian Karst with underground lakes and rivers and the

well-known Macocha Abyss. lf one is tired of people and civilization, there is no better way to regain new energy than to set

out on a hiking trip in the country. As I am not used to hiking and partly because I did not want to carry a heavy rucksack with food, a sleeping bag, a pad or a tent, I decided to take a one-day trip.

I got up at dawn because I had a long way ahead. First I had to get to the starting point of the trail. From the windows of the train I could see cornfields and meadows with grazing deer and hares; clumps of oaks, beeches and birches along the way; a shallow stream fringed with alder trees and willows, lonely farms and villages.

From the station the tourist sign showed the direction along the path among village gardens. The sun had risen and dewdrops glistened in the grass and on the leaves. Fruit trees were in full blossom and were coming into leaf, shrubs had buds on them and flowers in the flower-beds and rockgardens were in bloom. Honey-bees were busy gathering pollen from them. People had a lot to do both in their gardens, digging, weeding, planting vegetables in the patches and sowing seeds and in the fields, ploughing and drilling com.

On a chimney of an old cottage, storks had already arrived back from the south to their nest. A short way beyond the village at the edge of a wood, a group of campers was making their late

breakfast fire. Someone was carrying water in a fire-blackened pot from a nearby spring. As it was still spring,

they did not sleep outside as usual but in a hut. The edge of the wood was full of bushes including raspberry bushes, elderberry bushes and hawthorn.

The Šumava Range

The Adršpach Rocks

Before long the path began to rise up to a small spruce-wooded area. As the temperature went up, insects began to bother me and I had to use an insect repellent. The path led me into the wood and there I could fully enjoy bird songs, a woodpecker pecking at the bark of the trees and the calling of a cuckoo. Along the path I saw ferns and a big anthill and I had to step very carefully as a few uprooted trees lay there after the last windstorm.

When I had climbed to the top of the hill, suddenly a clearing appeared in front of me. I sat down on a stump and had my lunch and then I had a rest on the moss. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and I could hear a cricket chirping in the grass, the wind murmuring in the trees and a stream bubbling somewhere on the other side of the hill .

As my way continued and sloped down, the trees became scant and an open view of a valley and neighbouring hills spread out in front of me. At the bottom there was a lake into which the stream flowed. The shores of the lake were over-grown with reeds and on the opposite rock the ruins of a castle towered to the sky. The sun was slowly setting and in its rays the landscape looked very romantic. As I descended along the path to the valley and walked across the meadows I could hear frogs accompanying me on my way to the station. I almost lost my way and was happy to meet a gamekeeper so that I could ask about the way to the village.

When I got home before dusk I felt physically rather tired but emotionally refreshed and ready to start a new working week.

PICTURE DICTIONARY

GEOGRAPHY – WORLD

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1 map 10 cape 24 isthmus 2 north 11 bay 25 estuary 3 east 12 delta 26 peninsula 4 south 13 coastline 27 Equator 5 west 14 continent 28 Tropic of Cancer 6 sea, ocean 15 Europe 29 Tropic of Capricorn 7 river 16 North America 30 line of latitude 8 lake 17 South America 31 line of longitude 9 island 18 Africa 19 Asia 20 Australia 21 North Pole 22 South Pole 23 globe

GEOGRAPHY – LANDSCAPE

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1 mountain 2 foot of mountain 3 valley 4 hill 5 stream, river 6 wood 7 field 8 road 9 lake 10 shore 11 island 12 village **

13 plateau 14 peak, top, summit 15 slope 16 waterfall 17 canyon 18 volcano 19 flat country 20 meadow 21 canal 22 bay 23 desert 24 dunes 25 oasis ***

26 ridge 27 glacier 28 crevasse 29 hamlet 30 brook 31 swamp, bog

WILD ANIMALS 1

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1 mouse 2 rat 3 fox 4 wolf 5 zebra 6 elephant 7 lion 8 tiger 9 bear 10 monkey **

11 giraffe 12 squirrel 13 hare 14 hamster 15 beaver 16 kangaroo 17 buffalo 18 bison 19 dolphin 20 whale ***

21 trunk 22 tusk

WILD ANIMALS 2

** 1 antelope 2 deer 3 reindeer 4 leopard 5 jaguar 6 camel 7 dromedary *** 8 hedgehog 9 mole 10 bat 11 rhinoceros 12 hippopotamus 13 chamois 14 seal 15 porcupine 16 jackal 17 guinea pig 18 marmot 19 chimpanzee 20 gorilla 21 antlers, a pair of antlers

REPTILES AND OTHER ANIMALS

REPTILES

1 snake 2 crocodile 3 lizard 4 chameleon 5 turtle 6 tortoise 7 viper 8 boa constrictor 9 cobra 10 rattlesnake OTHER ANIMALS

11 frog 12 salamander 13 tadpole 14 toad 15 snail 16 slug 17 worm 18 centipede 19 penguin 20 ostrich

BIRDS

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1 parrot 2 canary 3 finch 4 sparrow 5 crow 6 swallow 7 pigeon 8 gull 9 pheasant 10 nightingale ***

11 tit 12 blackbird 13 budgie, budgerigar 14 starling 15 lark 16 robin 17 woodpecker 18 thrush 19 stork 20 heron

BIRDS OF PREY

PARTS OF THE BIRD BIRDS OF PREY

1 head 11 owl 2 eye 12 eagle 3 foot 13 nest 4 leg 14 hawk 5 wing 15 falcon 6 breast 16 vulture 7 feather 17 buzzard 8 tail feather 9 claw 10 beak, bill

FISH

FRESHWATER FISH

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1 eye 2 mouth **

3 trout 4 salmon ***

5 gill 6 fin 7 scales 8 pike 9 eel 10 carp SEA FISH

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11 shrimp 12 oyster 13 mussel 14 lobster 15 crab 16 herring 17 cod 18 plaice 19 sole 20 sardine ***

21 haddock 22 anchovy 23 mackerel 24 tuna 25 shark

INSECTS

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1 fly 2 bee 3 spider 4 ant **

5 caterpillar 6 butterfly 7 moth 8 mosquito 9 wasp 10 cricket 11 ladybird 12 beetle 13 scorpion 14 wing 15 web ***

16 cockroach 17 flea 18 grasshopper 19 dragonfly 20 daddy long-legs

FLOWERS

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1 rose 6 daffodil 16 marigold, 2 daisy 7 crocus French marigold, 3 lily 8 hyacinth African marigold 4 sunflower 9 orchid 17 lily of the valley 5 tulip 10 iris 18 pansy 11 gladiolus 19 sweet-william 12 carnation, pink 20 chrysanthemum 13 dahlia 14 begonia 15 geranium