The original features of Southern Transdanubia have largely been preserved, and people today can and do a lot to protect their natural environment.

The Danube-Dráva National Park on close to 50 thousand hectares guards valuable aquatic habitats, river branches, mortlakes, flood plain forests and marshlands. The areea around these stretches of the two rivers has survived in an almost natural state and preserved a riches that is by now rarely found in Europe. The gallery forests fringing the rivers and the backwaters offer protected habitats for many rare bird species. At Gemenc and Béda-Karapancsa on the Danube, kingfishers, black storks and little egrets nest.

These two areas are also the richest habitats in Europe for birds of prey, such as the saker and the white-tailed eagle. Both forests make excellent hunting areas, noted worldwide for the trophied big game, the red deer and the fallow deer.

The part of the National Park alongside the Dráva is also noted for its gallery forests, backwaters and marshlands. A few Slavonian oaks tower over the forests with their vast foliage. Birdlife is especially rich here. The colonies of bank swallows nesting on the high banks present a unique sight. A noted botanical treasure of the region is the juniper grove at Barcs.

Within the Danube-Dráva National Park, three landscape protection areas - the Eastern Mecsek, Boronka and Zselic - and twenty-two nature conservation areas, among them Szársomlyó, the only habitat of the Hungarian colchicum, as well as several locally protected valuable spots attract visitors.

Gemenc

The 50,000-hectare game reserve in Gemenc Forest is Hungary's most beautiful floodplain forest. Covered with a patchwork of backwaters and fens and blessed with numerous islands, the nature reserve has preserved the natural environment that existed before the regulation of the Danube. The attractive little islands are home to old willows, huge oaks and poplars, lilies of the valley, egrets, herons, bald eagles, black storks, waterfowl and stags sporting the finest antlers in the country. The nature reserve is only accessible by light boat or narrow-gauge train running between Bárányfok and Pörböly.

The Mecsek Hills

The Mecsek Hills are an ideal place for excursions and a popular area for lovers of rural tourism. The air is fresh in the high hills, protected flowers are colourful and the food is delicious in the villages around Zengő Hill, the highest point in the range. The fantastic rock formations of Jakab Hill that display doll-like shapes, the Melegmányi Valley with its series of waterfalls, the ancient chestnut forest blooming in June, the European-chestnut orchard at Zengővárkony, the arboretums of Kisújbánya and Püspökszentlászló as well as the hiker's path among waterfalls of Óbánya Valley are favorite destinations for hikers.