Zur RegionNature parks in Lower Austria
The UnterWasserReich Nature Park Centre is the visitor centre for the Schrems High Moor Nature Park and a Ramsar Information Centre. The exhibition and the water garden focus on the unique features of the Waldviertel’s ponds and bogs.
There are 1,900 ponds in Lower Austria, all of which were created by human hands – 1,800 of them are located here in the Waldviertel. In the exhibition ‘The Waldviertel – an ancient cultural landscape – a landscape of ponds’, we highlight the differences between ponds and lakes and the unique features of carp farming in the Waldviertel.
Captured under a microscope and projected onto a screen, our live microscope shows allow you to see the plankton from our pond. The composition of the plankton changes with the seasons, just like the variety of flowers in a meadow. There is therefore always something new to see.
In the aquariums at UnterWasserReich, you can experience the beauty and diversity of native fish.
Marvel at catfish, perch, pike, sterlets, roach, carp, tench and many more, as well as other creatures such as native crayfish.
By turning the ‘fish mouth wheel’, you can see what a fish’s mouth shape reveals about its aquatic habitat and feeding habits – ‘Look at my mouth and you’ll know where I live and what I eat’.
A separate section of the exhibition is dedicated to the otter. A walk-through otter den allows everyone to experience the ‘otter’s home’ for themselves.
Otters also build ‘otter slides’ in the wild – our replica otter slide is very popular with children.
In the microscopy station, all visitors have the opportunity to use a microscope themselves and discover the fascinating structures and shapes that nature produces – such as the tiny ‘little fir trees’ on a carp scale.
