In the 2010 film "Avatar," which long held the mantle of most successful film of all time, James Cameron tells a story of an ecological disaster triggered by human greed. Mankind has depleted the earth and must conquer new colonies. "Pandora" is the name of the New World, a paradise full of wondrously shining fauna where the Na'vi live in symbiosis with plants and animals.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Hobbit" are set in Middle-earth, an area full of dense forests. Fangorn forest is the remain of a formerly immense jungle, an enchanted place that can ward off evil invaders. Battles and devastating clearings diminished the forests of Middle-earth to the point that only a few remnants bore witness to a bygone era.

Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" tells about the life of the orpaned boy Mowgli growing up among wolves. Famously filmed by Walt Disney and others, the story is one of the defining works of world literature. The boy is torn between life in the wilderness and life among humans. But because humans disrespect his animal friends, Mowgli returns to the jungle and becomes the leader of the wolf pack.

"Twin Peaks" is a legendary mystery drama TV series by director David Lynch that first aired in 1990. It takes place in a small fictional town in the USA's Pacific Northwest and, among other things, is about the destruction of a wooded paradise as the timbe industry clears the forest — and awakens its demons.

The Japanese animated film "Princess Mononoke" is about environmental protection and the conflict between progress and ecology. It tells the story of a wood-hungry iron factory that gradually destroys a forest that is home to mystical animals. Mononoke was raised there by wolves and tries to save the woodlands that were based on the cedar forests of Yakushima island in southern Japan.

A woman is trapped alone in a hut in the forest, surrounded by a transparent wall of glass. Marlen Haushofer's film adaptation of the 1963 Austrian novel, "The Wall," tells of primeval fears akin to those addressed in German fairy tales. Thrown back on herself in isolation, she has to come to terms with nature.

A child grows up in the forest, far away from civilization. The boy cannot walk upright, cannot speak and cannot write when discovered by a doctor in 1798, takes him in and hopes to give him an education. The story of the boy found in the wild, such as the German Kasper Hauser, has inspired numerous books and films, including this 1969 classic by Francois Truffaut.

Japanese bestselling author Hanya Yanagihara tells the story of Norton Perina, a physician who sets out on an expedition to study an isolated people on a Micronesian island. In the jungle he encounters untouched nature and discovers a species of turtle whose consumption slows down the physical aging process, but not mental deterioration

Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel — forests play a role in more than half of the 160 fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm. Whoever entered a forest had to prove themselves by finding their way out. In the late 19th century Romantic period, people regarded forests as an alternative world to civilization.

Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is the protagonist in "Apocalypse Now," a soldier in the Vietnam War in 1969. He and his men head deep into the jungle to put an end to vigilante operations. It's a trip through hell. Director Francis Ford Coppola shows the madness of war as well as the difficulties of surviving in the jungle surrounded by enemies, wild animals and dangerous plants.

The Germans' relationship to the forest is a long-standing love affair. Not only are the woods a dominant theme in German art and literature — appearing in the works of Goethe and Caspar David Friedrich alike — the forest also holds a special place in the hearts of many Germans. That adoration for the woods has filtered into the language: "Wald," pops up in numerous German phrases.

There are a number of German idioms and proverbs that make use of the word forest. "Holz in den Wald tragen" — literally, to carry wood into the forest, is to do something pointless. You could compare it with the English phrases to "carry coals to Newcastle" or "bring owls to Athens," which also mean to undertake a task that is redundant.

The German equivalent of the idiom "can't see the forest for the trees" portrays the idea that someone is so concerned with the details of something that they fail to grasp the situation as a whole. Sometimes being too preoccupied with the smaller things can mean missing the bigger picture. The expression first became popular in German thanks to the works of poet Christoph Martin Wieland.

Translated word for word, "pfeifen im Walde" means whistling in the forest. The English phrase "whistling in the dark" is not so different. Both mean to try and stay brave or convince yourself that everything is alright in a bad situation. The forest is often presented as mysterious, concealing something sinister, for example, in fairytales like "Hansel and Gretel" recorded by the Brothers Grimm.

In English you might have once said something along the lines of "Well, I never!" or "Blow me down!" The same idea lies behind this German exclamation. The direct translation of "Ich glaub', ich steh' im Wald" is "I think I'm standing in the woods." It is a colloquial form of expressing astonishment. Why not try it out next time you're feeling surprised?

This saying reflects the idea that "what goes around, comes around." It literally translates as: The way you shout into the forest, the way it echoes back out. If you treat someone badly, you'll eventually be treated badly yourself. Many German proverbs stem from a time when everyday life involved hunting in the woods. Folk wisdom was passed on using relatable experiences like an echo in a forest.

In German if someone is acting like an axe in a forest, they are behaving like a bull in a China shop. Both expressions describe rough, boorish or destructive behavior. The German colloquialism conjures an image of an axe being wielded in a forest destroying surrounding trees, whereas "to behave like a bull in a China shop" evokes pictures similar to the one above — but the sentiment is the same.

Directly translated as "there is silence in the forest," the colloquial German term describes a situation in which no one dares to say anything out of embarrassment or fear. The best idiomatic English equivalent is perhaps the informal phrase "the cat's got their tongue."

The treetop path near Neuschönau leads the visitors over 1.3 kilometers to undreamt-of heights and opens uniquely beautiful views over the landscape of the Bavarian Forest, especially from the 44 meter high tree tower. In 1970 the Bavarian Forest was declared a national park - the first in Germany.

It's the only German national park in the Alps. Because of its high mountain location, with a bit of luck, hikers here can spot such rare animals as the alpine ibex, golden eagle, alpine hare and alpine marmot.

Since January 2014, parts of the Northern Black Forest have been under special protection. The North Black Forest National Park in Baden-Württemberg is a showcase project championed by Winfried Kretschman, state premier and Green Party member.

It's Germany's smallest national park, but that doesn't diminish its beauty. Jasmund National Park, in the far north of the island of Rügen, is home to one of the world's few surviving primeval beech forests. In 2011, UNESCO declared it part of the World Heritage Site, "Ancient Beech Forests of Germany".

Woodlands, lakes and marshes shape the scenery in Müritz National Park in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. After repeated human intervention in this habitat, its flora and fauna are being a given a chance to recover. The cultivated pine forests are gradually being replaced with deciduous trees such as beech and birch.

An alluvial forest is considered an important part of a riverscape. Regular flooding provides a unique habitat for flora and fauna, as it does here on the Elbe in the state of Brandenburg. The Elbe River Landscape has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1997.

This low mountain range is not just one of the largest forested areas in Germany. It's also one of the most popular. As early as 1824, the writer Heinrich Heine devoted a travelogue to it. In the middle of the Harz is the Brocken, whose summit is many a hiker's destination. In addition, many animal and plant species live in these mixed forests, among them this endangered Brocken anemone.

The largest contiguous deciduous mixed forest in Germany lies in the state of Thüringen, or Thuringia. Because of its native beech forests with up to 800 ancient trees, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 2011. It's home to many rare animal species, such as the European wildcat.

Here, too, some habitats, such as moist and marshy meadow valleys, woodlands and streams, are still almost in their original state. They lend the countryside a mystical quality. The ruins of Flossenbürg Castle are a landmark in the Northern Upper Palatinate Forest nature reserve.

A range of low wooded mountains on the border between Hesse and Bavaria, the Spessart was once used as a hunting ground by aristocrats and archbishops. The 19th-century bands of brigands there are also legendary. Wilhelm Hauff immortalized them in his novella "The Inn in the Spessart" in 1827.