Hortobágy () is an 800 km²

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

in eastern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, rich with

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

and

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing t ...

. The park, a part of the Alföld (Great Plain), was designated as a national park in 1973 (the first in Hungary), and elected among the World Heritage sites in 1999. The Hortobágy is Hungary's largest protected area, and the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe. Until recently it was believed that this

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...

steppe was formed by the clear cutting of huge forests in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, followed by measures to control the course of the

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...

River, allegedly resulting in the soil's current structure and pH. However, Hortobágy is much older, with alkalinization estimated to have started ten thousand years ago, when the Tisza first found its way through the Great Hungarian Plain, cutting off many streams from their sources in the Northern Mountains. The formation was finished by grazing animals and wild horses during the Ice Age, followed by domesticated animals. One of its most iconic sites is the Nine-holed Bridge. Traditional T-shaped sweep wells dot the landscape, as well as the occasional

mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

of trees shimmering in the reflected heat of the puszta (steppe). Part of the national park is a

dark sky preserve A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution. The purpose of the dark-sky movement is generally to promote astronomy. However, astronomy is certainly not the only obj ...

. Hortobágy has also had more negative connotations, as a site of forced labor under the communist regime.

Flora and fauna

Hortobágy is a

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

, a grassy plain with Hungarian Grey cattle,

racka The Racka (pronounced Hungarian �rɒts.kɒ or Hortobágy Racka Sheep is a breed of sheep known for its unusual spiral-shaped horns. These unique appendages are unlike any other domestic sheep horns, and may grow up to long. The smallest stand ...

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...

, and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s tended by mounted herdsmen called

Csikós The csikós is the mounted horse-herdsman of Hungary. The csikós tradition is closely associated with the Hungarian ''puszta'', in recent times particularly in the environs of Debrecen and Hortobágy National Park. It is also closely linke ...

. It provides habitat for various species including 342 species of birds. The

red-footed falcon The red-footed falcon (''Falco vespertinus''), formerly the western red-footed falcon, is a bird of prey. It belongs to the family Falconidae, the falcons. This bird is found in eastern Europe and Asia although its numbers are dwindling rapidly ...

, stone curlew,

great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South and Central Europe, to temperate Central and East Asia. European po ...

and European roller are represented by breeding populations. The area is an important stopover site for migrating common cranes, dotterels, and lesser white-fronted geese. Hortobágy is also a center for the breeding of Taurus cattle, one of several attempts to re-create the extinct

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene ...

.Waltraut Zimmermann, Lydia Kolter, Istvan Sandor:
Naturschutzprojekt Hortobágy – Jahresbericht 2003.
'' Zeitschrift des Kölner Zoo 2004. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

Picture gallery

Image:Hortobágy.jpg, Herds of sheep Image:Hortobagy híd.jpg, The Nine-holed Bridge Image:Racka (Fabian).jpg, Racka sheep Image:Hungarian Grey Cattle.jpg, Hungarian Grey cattle Image:Gentiana pneumonanthe 0001.jpg,

Gentiana pneumonanthe ''Gentiana pneumonanthe'', the marsh gentian, is a species of the genus ''Gentiana ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family ( Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. ...

Image:Tisza-tó.jpg,

Lake Tisza Lake Tisza ( hu, Tisza-tó), also known as Kisköre Reservoir (Hungarian: ''Kiskörei-víztározó''), is the largest artificial lake in Hungary. It is located at the southeastern edge of Heves county, next to counties Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Ha ...

Image:Salvia_nemorosa_2.jpg,

Salvia ''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with nearly 1000 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoide ...

Image:Dabao.jpg,

Great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South and Central Europe, to temperate Central and East Asia. European po ...

Image:Rotfußfalke Falco vespertinus.jpg,

Red-footed falcon The red-footed falcon (''Falco vespertinus''), formerly the western red-footed falcon, is a bird of prey. It belongs to the family Falconidae, the falcons. This bird is found in eastern Europe and Asia although its numbers are dwindling rapidly ...

Image:Buffalo and egrets.jpg,

Water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...

Notes

References

* Gorman, Gerard (1996): The Birds of Hungary. Helm (A&C Black) London, UK. .

External links

Hungary for Visitors description
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hortobagy National parks of Hungary Biosphere reserves of Hungary World Heritage Sites in Hungary Protected areas established in 1973 Historical regions in Hungary Birdwatching sites in Hungary Tourist attractions in Hajdú-Bihar County 1973 establishments in Hungary Ramsar sites in Hungary

Flora and fauna

Picture gallery

See also

Notes

References

External links