Gail

The Gail is a river in southern Austria, the largest right tributary of the Drava. It rises east of the Kartitsch Saddle in the Tyrolean municipality of Obertilliach and flows east through the Southern Limestone Alps. Between the Gailtal Alps to the north and the Carnic Alps to the south, it enters Carinthia at Lesachtal. The river then runs down the Gail Valley, a broad trough with steep slopes, past Kötschach-Mauthen. The Gail’s upper course remains largely natural and hosts shorebirds such as the common sandpiper, white-throated dipper and grey wagtail. Two giant debris fans block the valley floor: the Outsize Fan at Obertilliach is 200 metres high with a 1.5-kilometre radius, while the Gundersheim megafan reaches 220 metres and spans 2 kilometres. In 1348 a landslide dammed the river above Villach, and when it burst the floodwaters devastated the town; the rockslide path is still visible on Mount Dobratsch. Below Arnoldstein the Gail meets its main tributary, the Slizza, before joining the Drava beneath the Karawanks range near Villach. Trout still thrive as far upstream as Hermagor, where seventeen fish species live, including barbel, nase and the rare souffia. Parts of the lower river have been renaturalised in recent decades, restoring habitats along its regulated banks.