Hortobágy (pronounced "hor-toe-BAH-gy") is a national park in eastern Hungary that covers 800 square kilometers. It is known for its rich folklore and cultural history. The park is part of the Alföld, or Great Plain, and became Hungary’s first national park in 1973. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. Hortobágy is Hungary’s largest protected area and the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe.

Earlier, people believed the alkaline grassland formed when large forests were cut down during the Middle Ages. This was followed by efforts to control the Tisza River’s path, which may have shaped the soil’s structure and pH. However, research shows the grassland is much older. Alkaline conditions began about 10,000 years ago when the Tisza River first flowed through the Great Hungarian Plain, separating many streams from their sources in the Northern Mountains. Grazing by wild animals and horses during the Ice Age, followed by domesticated animals, completed the formation. The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 because of its long cultural history (over 4,000 years), its natural beauty, and its evidence of traditional farming methods involving grazing animals.

A famous feature of the park is the Nine-holed Bridge. The landscape also includes traditional T-shaped wells and sometimes shows mirages of trees shimmering in the heat of the puszta (steppe). Part of the park is a dark sky preserve, protecting the night sky from light pollution.

Hortobágy was also used for forced labor during the communist era.

Flora and fauna

Hortobágy is a steppe, a grassy plain where Hungarian Grey cattle, racka sheep, Italian Mediterranean buffalo, and Nonius horses are cared for by herdsmen on horseback called csikós. This area supports many animal species, including the nominate subspecies of the roe deer and European wildcat, the European red fox, the European ground squirrel, the southern festoon butterfly, and 342 types of birds. Breeding populations of the red-footed falcon, stone curlew, great bustard, European roller, saker falcon, eastern imperial eagle, European bee-eater, nominate subspecies of the Eurasian hoopoe, great egret, common starling, Eurasian spoonbill, grey heron, whiskered tern, black tern, western marsh harrier, common tern, white stork, pied avocet, pygmy cormorant, black stork, white-tailed eagle, western greylag goose, eastern European bearded reedling, squacco heron, glossy ibis, wood sandpiper, black-winged stilt, and mute swan live in the area. Hortobágy is also an important stopover site for migratory birds such as the common crane, dotterel, and lesser white-fronted geese.

The area also includes a group of about 25 Przewalski's horses, a breeding center for Taurus cattle, one of several efforts to recreate the extinct aurochs. Near the park is an animal hospital and a small zoo that houses rescued animals unable to be released into the wild, such as Eurasian wolves, European jackals, saker falcons, Eurasian griffon vultures, great white pelicans, greylag geese, European wildcats, and Carpathian wild boar.

Gallery

• Herds of sheep
• The Nine-holed Bridge
• Racka sheep
• Hungarian Grey cattle
• Gentiana pneumonanthe (a type of flowering plant)
• Lake Tisza
• Salvia (a type of plant)
• Great bustard
• Red-footed falcon
• Water buffalo