Watch here: “Lisa” “Arno” “Marika”
The impressive Puszta… It starts at the edge of Tiszafüred and its center is only 40 km (30′ by car) from Lake Tisza Holiday Homes in the direction of Debrecen. There you can ride on horseback, make a fun wagon ride, attend horse dressage shows and watch sheep and goat shepherds at work. More details on time tables, horse shows, Puszta safaris in jeeps, wagons or trains, etc. can be found here.
A large part of the area of the National Park is formed by natural habitats, alkaline grasslands and pastures, including small and large marshes. Some artificial wetlands in the area are of great importance: these are the many fish ponds spread over 6,000 hectares of land. The marshes and ponds are breeding grounds for birds and important sites for migratory birds. So far there are 340 bird species recorded in Hortobágy, of which 160 species nest in the National Park. The migration of cranes in the fall is one of the most spectacular events. Tens of thousands of cranes (this bird is the symbol of the park) can be observed every year in October when they fly above the grasslands to reach their nests.
The Hortobágy National Park was included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO on December 1, 1999 in the category of cultural landscapes, because the Hortobágy Puszta was already used by people for grazing their animals for over two millennia.
The shepherds are living on the grasslands and have no permanent buildings for themselves or for their animals. Most of the old buildings of the shepherds are very simple but also practical and mainly made of reeds. The pole wells for watering the animals symbolize the Hungarian grasslands. Once every 10-12 miles there was an inn built along commercial routes that traverse the plains. There travelers could rest and the shepherds took shelter for the night.
The Puszta is the grass land of the Great Hungarian Plain, a steppe landscape with a high water table. The corresponding Puszta Hungarian word literally means “emptiness” and is of Slavic origin.
Traditionally the Great Plain was used for livestock but nowadays the area is largely cleared for agriculture. The last remnants of the Great Plain are protected as a nature reserve. The largest and best known is Hortobágy (37 km from Lake Tisza Holiday Homes) west of Debrecen with its Nagycsárda (inn) dating from 1699 and there you can find a native animal park.
Characteristic of traditional Puszta in Central and Eastern Hungary are the typical wells (heron wells), herds of gray cattle and water buffalo, sheep with twisted horns (racka), the curly Mangalica pigs, the Nonius horses and the long-haired Hungarian sheepdogs Puli and Komondor .
A complete PDF document with things to see & do on and around Lake Tisza Holiday Homes in Hungary will be mailed to you after reservation and payment of the deposit so you can start to dream and plan!
