Gemenc is a unique forest that is found between

Szekszárd Szekszárd (, formerly also ''Szegzárd''; ; or ; ) is a small city in southern Hungary and the capital of Tolna County. By population, Szekszárd is the smallest county capital in Hungary; by area, it is the second-smallest (after Tatabánya). ...

and Baja, in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. This is the only remaining tidal area of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. The wood's fauna include stags,

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

s, saker falcons,

white-tailed eagle The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), sometimes known as the 'sea eagle', is a large bird of prey, widely distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which also ...

s, and

kite A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...

s. Various amphibians and reptiles can also be found. The stag population has worldwide fame, since its genetic stock is outstanding, and the stags' antlers are impressive. Due to the various watery habitats, many fish species are present. Close to the waters,

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

and poplar forests are typical. It is the habitat of the curiosity Freyer's purple emperor (). Furthermore, Gemenc is home to 13 other sheltered butterfly species. Farther from the rivers, large

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

- ash-

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

forests spread. These are the homes of the

stag beetle Stag beetles comprise the family Lucanidae. It has about 1,200 species of beetles in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections to nomenclature and a c ...

s, great pricorn beetles, as well as of a kind of

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

which only lives in Gemenc. Gemenc is a nature reserve that is part of the Danube-Drava National Park. Vignettes of specific species of the fauna of the sanctuary make up the film ''Gyöngyvirágtól lombhullásig'' 'From Blossom Time to Autumn Frost''(1953) by nature documentary film-maker István Homoki Nagy.

References

External links

Gemenc Forest and Game Co. Ltd. - forest management

Gemenc Co. Ltd. in English

Dead Link
danubemap.eu

"I Like Gemenc" a video showing a day of the narrow gauge, logging railroad
{{coord, 46, 15, 11, N, 18, 53, 11.4, E, region:HU_type:landmark, display=title Geography of Hungary Bačka Protected areas established in 1977 Ramsar sites in Hungary Forests of Hungary Geography of Tolna County Geography of Bács-Kiskun County Tourist attractions in Tolna County Tourist attractions in Bács-Kiskun County