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The Drava rises in the frontier of the village of Toblach in the Tirol Alps on the Austrian-Italian border at 1228m above sea level. After its 695-kilometre-long way it joins the Danube at the Croatian Aljmas at 83m above sea level.

During its journey it receives 24 major waters. Out of these, the Mura River is the most significant since with its 454 metres it is very close to its receiver in significance. The water regime of the Drava River is formed by the joint forces of the Alpine rivers (Isel and Möll) abounding in water up to the Mura estuary. From this estuary the water regime of Drava is mainly influenced by the Mura.

The Drava River reaches the territory of Hungary at the river km 237 (Drava-Mura estuary) and leaves our country at the river km 70.2 towards Croatia. The distance between these two points is approximately 170km but the Hungarian-Croatian (joint) reach of the Drava is rather shorter since between the river km-s 227.6 and 198.6 the river runs on the Croatian territory exclusively. The Drava River often crosses the Hungarian-Croatian border (in Somogy and Baranya Counties) and quite often there are Croatian territories on the left bank and Hungarian territories on the right bank. The reason for this is that the present borderline is based partly on the old Drava-branch (from which the present riverbed can be at a significant distance away due to the side-acting erosion) and partly on property relations of earlier centuries.

Originally Drava ran much more North than today; it used to wash the east and west side of the Villányi Mountains. In a document from 1820 the residents of the village of Kákics suffer from the damaging rages of Drava. The old riverbed can still be seen in the bends of the valleys of the territories closer to the Drava River. The Dead-Drava developed gradually from these. Along the bends of the old riverbed we can find the chains of hills that developed from the accumulated fluvial sand and which used to be called urns or trunks. The small villages that characteristically consisted of only one street were built on these. The territory probably got its name from these small hills since it is called Ormánság which is similar to the Hungarian word 'ormány' that means trunk. Where the street bends it simply follows the line of the original riverbed. The church was built on the highest point of the comb.

The washland of the Drava River widens out significantly at its reach in Baranya County. In the territory of the plain the various Holocene silt is the soil-formatting rock. In the Baranya reach of the Drava River the sand and silty-sand deposit is characteristic. Due to the frequent changes of the riverbed the types of soil have a mosaic pattern.

At the time of the Hungarian conquest the Drava River and its surroundings could have been woody up to 60-80 % which later decreased gradually. On the deforested territories marshy meadows developed which were utilised through cutting and/or pasturing. Stock farming was the ancient occupation of the people living here.

The presence of men along the river can be detected from the Neolith Age. In Roman times military roads crossed the territory and the most important points were guarded by fortresses. The river valley proved to be quite suitable to settle down on since the natural resources were favourable for the farming and pastoral lifestyle. The peoples living here have always lived in a close contact with their environment, and they adjusted their lifestyle and farming to the water regime of the Drava. The regression of the traditional flood-plain farming was started by the the river regulations and management. The regulation of the Drava, which particularly affected the area under Barcs, was started in the 18th century. The water-carriage of the 19th century, and the steam-boat transit of passengers that began in the 1860s slowly disappeared after WWII.

The water tours of the Drava River are often the continuances of tours that start from the Mura River and the Kerka River, thus these two rivers should also be mentioned.

The Mura River

The 308-kilometre-long river is the biggest tributary of the Drava joining it at Őrtilos. The water tours of the Drava are often started from the Mura where Letenye, Muraszemenye and Molnár are preferred departure points. In the past few years the water regime of Mura have also become inconstant. The Mura River is not a nature conservation area so a permit to tour can be obtained from the Border Guards Directorate of Nagykanizsa.