Size of protected area: Out of 56.761 hectare protected area, 12.457 hectares are protected to a greater extent.
Location: The national park comprises of nine separate areas, their location is expalined in the detailed description.
Visiting: Different regulations apply to each area, but only a few can be visited without restrictions. Generally there are built educational paths, dirt roads at visitors' disposal, and for the rest one needs a permit or/and a guide. There are a few places which – especially in hatching periods – cannot be visited. More information about restrictions is available in the centre of the national park. (Kecskemét, Liszt F. u. 19.).
The area of the national park begins almost in the outskirts of Budapest, in the plain along the Danube, in the flatland between the Danube and the Tisza and in the Alsó-Tiszavidék (Lower-Tisza region). While its northernmost areas stretch as far as the northern edges of Bácska flatland. This region has been inhabited more or less continuously from the Bronze Age and besides the natural forces, it has also been formed by man for the better and for the worse. The harmony and the clashes of these forces have formed and still forms the landscape even today. Maybe this is the reason why one is fascinated by a kind of charm at the first moment arriving here. The rich cultural and ethnographic assets of the Kiskunság region, its unique flora and fauna give a memorable experience to the visitor.
The parts along the Danube were formed by the erosive and building activities of the river. The lower areas near the river are almost absolutely flat, the areas further away are a bit higher and were formed by the alluvial cones of the river. The water of the once immensely flooding river retreated rather slowly and left behind larger and smaller amounts of water.
The sand tables of the central areas are thirty-forty meter higher on average. The alluvial cones are the remnants of the Ancient Danube from the Pliocene (the main channel in the valley of the Danube follows the former bed of the river). After that the formation of loess and sand tables began with a direction of northwest-southeast, because of the characteristic direction of the wind. In accordance with zonation, the wooded steppe zone took shape after the glacial period. Because of the large scale pasturing and deforestation, which began after the Turkish era, the size of wooded areas diminished and wind-blown sandy areas emerged again in some places. Every year several square kilometers were changed into 'seasonal sea', but in the hollows between sand-hills and sand tables water – in the form of smaller and larger lakes – stayed on for the year round. Water control started in the 19th century in the Kiskunság, and as a result of drainage, the majority of the area dried out, leaving behind only soda/alkali and sand. This is how this landscape evolved on a solonchak soil, which is rich in sand, loess, alkali and lime. The landscape is immensely rich in micro-forms and looks flat only from the distance. The majority of the protected area is constituted by alkali areas, sodic and sandy meadows, wind-blown sandy areas, junipers, woods on sand, reeds, 'turjánosok' and wooded marshes. The richness of the avifauna living here has few rivals even internationally. The world of scattered farms – and the way of life linked to it and farming in the 'puszta' (steppe) – is literally unparalleled in the world.
Bits and pieces of this varied landscape was managed to be saved in the eleventh hour. Protected areas are formed where the original state of nature is relatively untouched, therefore the national park has nine separate areas at the moment but the number is growing continuously. These separate areas are divided by inhabited regions and agricultural fields.
1. The alkali puszta in Felső-kiskunság (Area: 11.061 hectares. A part of it can be visited without restrictions.)
The approximately thirty kilometer long and a few kilometer wide area of north-south direction is – after Hortobágy – the second largest alkali puszta in Hungary. It is also quite similar to Hortobágy for the first sight – mirages, getting scarcer and scarcer in the Alföld, can often be seen here, too in its endless lands. However, its solonchak alkali soil rich in lime is absolutely different from the that of the Hortobágy, which is lime-deficient. As a result their flora and fauna is significantly different. It received its present image after the water control works in the 19-20th centuries, when the former little lakes, swamps disappeared, ever increasing the already large areas of alkali 'pusztas'. The small scale elements of the relief, characteristic of alkali areas, make them a varied ensemble. In the smaller and larger (Camphorosmetum annuae) patches surrounded by alkali shoulders, only halphyte, tough, undemanding plants can survive like the plantain (Plantago), the sea blite (Suadea), the camphor (Champhorosma annua). Poor grazing lands comprises of the red fescue (Festuca), wormwood (Artemisia), chamomile and pepperwort (Lepidium). The club-rush and the sea club-rush live in the lower wet areas, while the dwarf iris (Iris pumila) and the green-winged orchid (Orchis morio) grow in little loess patches. Its avifauna is rich and characteristic. The most precious representatives are the red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus), the black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), the highly protected and reducing in number, the stone curlew (Burhinusoedicnemus) (its plaintive voice can be heard at dusk) and the bustard, whose feathers cover the ground at places. An educational path leads to the fish-pond near Apaj, with lookout places, from where the rackety flight of birds on the lake can be observed without disturbing them.
Grazing type of animal farming has age-old traditions in the 'puszta' and it is still viable in the present. Grazing has an important role in preserving the (indigenous) ancient lawn, too. Walking in the 'puszta' flocks of ancient Hungarian animal species can often be seen grazing: gray cattle, 'racka' and 'cigája' sheep. Hungarian halfbred herds of horses and 'mangalica' swines.
The ethnographic relics of the area is on show in the country museum in Kunszentmiklós, the biggest town of the p'uszta'. The history of the Felsőkunság is displayed at the exhibition starting from the Celtic, Sarmatic relics of the Bronze age and the Arpadian age. The influx of the Kuns in the 13th century is shown in detail. Renowned ethnographic monuments, reminiscent of the 1800s are the Nyakvágó csárda (throat cutting inn) and the renovated Selyem farm two kilometers away from the town.
2. The alkali lakes in Kiskunság (Area: 3905 hectares. Cannot be visited, but with a permit it can be viewed from the observation tower in Kelemenszék.)
The system of alkali lakes (Zab-szék, Kelemen-szék, Pipás-szék, Kisréti-tó) is located in the west of Szabadszállás and Fülöpszállás, the largest uninterrupted system of lakes in Kiskunság. Before the water control the lakes were sustained by the floods of the Danube, but these days it is only the rain and underground waters that provide water supply. The salt content of the characteristic alkali lakes – unparalleled in Europe – will grow in the summer and the lakes will dry up by the end of the summer. This extreme environment produced a uniquely valuable micro-flora and fauna in the water, on which the so called alkali nesting community, the similarly precious avifauna is based. The most precious members are the avocet (Recurvirosta avosetta), the black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus), the Kentish plover and the redshank (Tringa tetanus). The gray leg goose, the marsh harrier and the bittern hatch in the reeds which are silting up and rich in organic deposit. The area of the lakes are swarmed with tens of thousands of migrating birds in autumn and in spring.
3. Miklapuszta (Area: 6241 hectares. It can only be visited with a guide.)
The area surrounded by the villages Mikla, Akasztó, Szakmár belongs to the Danube valley region. Its surface was shaped by the Ős-Duna (ancient Danube), therefore it is different from the alkali areas of the Homokhátság (sand tables) E.g. alkali shoulders of almost a meter thick are not rare at all here. The swampy area getting isolated, became dry and salinification began. Patches of connected calcareous-sodic alkali habitats mainly comprise of alkali swamps, alkali lawn associations covered by water seasonally and dry alkali pusztas.
Because of the high salt content the fauna is relatively poor (camphor, puccinellia – Puccinellia limosa, pepperwort, sea blite etc.) However the avifauna is significant and interesting: the area is the nesting place of pratincole (Glaerola pratincola), the black-tailed godwit, the Kentish plover, the stone curlew, the bustard and the Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus), the red-footed falcon.
4. The Peszéradacs meadows. (Area: 5757 hectares. The 'turjános' in Kunadacs and the meadow in Dámányadacs can only be visited with a guide, the rest of the area can be visited without restrictions and can be walked over easily on dirt roads.)
The system of connected marshy, swampy lakes were called 'Turjánvidék' by old people. It was located between the plain along the Danube and the Homokhátság (sand tables), (roughly in the line of present day main channel of the Danube valley) and once it stretched as far as off Baja. The roughly twenty five km long area surrounded by Kunbaracs, Kunadacs, Kunpeszér and Tatárszentgyörgy is one of the last surviving system of these connected lakes. The most precious forms of the diversified habitats located here are the wet hayfields, marsh-meadows, swampy meadows, marshes and sandy areas, wooded sands which stretch into these habitats mainly in the south. The beauty of the 'turjánvidék' will also appeal to people who are not especially impressed with nature. There are surprisingly many different kinds of forests and junipers in a small area. The scenery with torrents of flowers in all seasons of the year is a memorable experience. The survival of the 'turjánvidék' is in great part due to extensive agriculture, the traditional forms of cultivation: grassland, grazing lands, reeds and sylviculture.
The 'turjános' is a treasury of rare plants. Dozens of endangered orchid species bloom here: the military orchid (Orchis militaris), early spider-orchid (Ophrys sphecodes), fly-orchid (Ophrys insectifera), marsh orchids sp. (Dactylorhiza), the woodcock-orchid. But the marsh gladiolus (Gladiolus), and the Siberian iris (Iris siberica) grow here, too. The gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) blooms further to the south. The reptile fauna of the area is significantly important. This area is one of the last sanctuaries of the smooth snake and the viviparous lizard and the extremely endangered meadow wiper. To show how valuable the avifauna of the area is, it is enough to mention besides the bustard and the curlew (Numenius arquata), the two most colourful birds of Hungary the roller (Coracias garrulus) and the bee-eater (Meropidae).
5. The sand-hill (knoll) land near Fülöpháza. Area: 1992 hectaers. The are can be walked over on educational paths and tourist foot paths.
The small area near Kecskemét, in the west of Fülöpháza is one of the most visited areas of the national park, because almost all the characteristic habitats can be found in a small area. This gem is surrounded by intensive agricultural areas. The west side of it is sandy, while the eastern part comprises of alkali areas.
The exoticism of sand-hills on the west is due to the forms shaped by the still moving wind-blown sand. After the intensive pasturing was stopped, though more and more knolls are taken over by the open knoll lawn with sand fescue and feather-grass, the so much characteristic superficial forms of wind-blown sand can still be traced: the strongly indented scenery comprises of wind-holes, ripple marks, hummocks, parabolic curves of sand, sand ridges. The drought resistant heath-rose (Fumana procumbens), the purple golden-drop, the cockspur (Echinops ruthenicus), the dyer's alkanet bloom in the areas where the soil is bound with the lawn. Poplar-juniper association lives in the hollows between the sand-hills. The sand is characterized by a varied insect-, reptile- (green-, Balkan wall- and sand lizard) and avifauna (roller, bee-eater, golden oriole / thrush, hoopoe).
Once there were alkali lakes in the eastern part of the area (Szappan-szék, Szívós-szék, Kondor-szék), but the lakes with water as deep as one meter, because of the continuous desert-like drought, they dried out by the end of the 1980s and their bed is covered by grass at present. In spite of this, there are still countless birds in the vicinity. The Nature Conservation and Educational Center of the national park is situated here.
6. The Orgovány meadows and sand-hills. Area: 3753 hectares. The Csíra-szék and the strip along the rails can be visited without restrictions, but only guided tours are available to see the rest.
This area is located in the south of Fülöpháza, between Ágasegyháza and Orgovány. Besides habitats on sand-hills, there are also wet meadows, reeds and alkali meadows here. The alkali and the sand-hills are in the west of the area. These sand hills do not move any longer – while their counterparts near Fülöpháza do – they are bound by the lawn. The plants constituting this lawn, occupy an intermediate position between the lawns at Fülöpháza and Bugac, therefore interesting observations can be made. Charactersistic plants are the cinquefoil (Potentilla arenaria), the veronica species, the juniper and the most precious sea grape (Ephedra distachya). Its avifauna is also similar to that of on the sand-hills at Fülöpháza.
The condition of the wet marsh-meadows is determined by the seasonal water-levels. The flora and fauna of the areas which dry out and get covered by water again, accommodate themselves to the conditions and are characterized by such rarities as the European mud-minnow (Umbra Krameri) and the weather-fish (Misgurnus fossilis), which can survive in the silt, too. Its most common birds are the lapwing, the redshank and herons also hatch in the reeds in great numbers. The rarity of the area is the native tiger moth sp. (Rhyparioides metelkanus).
7. The Kolon lake at Izsák. Area: 2962 hectares., Only guided tours are available, but it cannot be visited during hatching periods at all. The area can be easily observed from the 126 meter high sand-hill called Bikatorok (bull's throat).
The fifteen thousand year old lake emerged in one of the branches of the Ancient Danube and later it got separated. It is seven km long and three km wide. Its water supply is provided exclusively by underground water and rain. Because of the plants in the lake, the organic material content of the lake increased and the siltation of the lake began, as well as the formation of peat. At present the Kolon lake is in the phase of a late, aging, swamping period, which was supported by drainage, too. Due to active nature conservation, recently the water level of the lake has been stabilized. Even so, merely six hectars of the water-surface is open, which is surrounded by vast, dense reeds in the north, marshy, boggy areas, fenwoods, marsh-meadows in the south.
The richness of the flora and fauna of the largest lake of the national park is unparalleled. The open water surfaces are covered by water-lily, and pondweed (Potamogeton), the rare nettle (Urtica) still can be spotted in the reeds. Nine orchid species, the Siberian- and the blue iris (Iris spuria) grow in the marsh-meadows. Besides the alder fenwoods, the area is lined with the remnants of the former oak-ash fenwoods along the Danube near Páhi.
Besides the exteremly rich avifauna of the area – all the nine heron species hatching in Hungary can be found here – the rare European mud-minnow and the weather-fish, the European pond tortoise (Emys orbicularis) can surrive in the marshes around the lake. Out of mammals, the otter (Lutra lutra), weasel (Mustela nivalis) and the harvest mouse live in the area.
8. Bugac-Bócsa. Area: 11.488 hectares and it can be walked over on an eductional path and a tourist path, but only guided tours are available to see ther rest.
Bugac is the largest and most visited part of the national park. It is also targeted by international tourism. Therefore, the standard of touristic facilities are rather varied. However there are real assets hiding behind the scene: small woods, sweep-pole wells, a varied landscape scattered by farms, rich flora and fauna of alkali and sandy 'pusztas', ranges of sand-hills and that of juniper-poplar associations, as well as ethnographical relics, extensive agriculture that still survives and the relics of a world of scattered farms reminiscent of the way of life of detached farms.
The Bócsa part of the area cannot be visited, because it was used as a military drill-ground by the previous political regime and reconstruction is keep stalling. In addition the precious ancient junipers burnt down during military exercises in 1993. Though besides sandy parts, this area also comprises of alkali meadows, wet swamps and hayfields.
However the Bugac area provides a lot of sights. Stretches of sand-hills comprise of almost three-quarters of the area, from two hundred meter long, and even twenty meter high hummocks with steep sides to smaller ripple marks. These sand-hills do not move any longer the soil was bound with open sandy 'puszta'-lawn, of which the nicest components are the meadow saffron (Colchicum), the red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubra), the sand iris, the pink (Dianthus diutinus) and the milkvetch (Astragalus). This area is the only habitat of the matriarchal katydid in the Alföld (plain). Purple moor-grass-common osiers between sand-hills are reminiscent of earlier wet periods. The Ancient Junipers in Bugac are the most precious asset here. The only endemic conifer in the Alföld thrives in the hot limy sand.
The most characteristic species of the avifauna are the roller, the hoopoe, red-footed falcon and kestrel (blood hawk), the golden oriole / thrush, while the sousilk, the otherwise rare rabbit, the badger are common out of the mammals. Talking about the fauna, the ancient Hungarian farm animals the gray cattle, 'racka', 'cigája', 'szőke and fecskehasú mangalica') sholuld be mentioned, which graze in the puszta everywhere but can also be looked at more closely at the Bugac entrance of the national park. Moreover, there is also an exhibition and a csárda at the entrance.
9. The Tőserdő, the Szikrai- and the Alpári meadows. Area: 1038 hectares, can be visited without restrictions.
This area is the the smallest but perhaps the most visited part of the national park. The protected area comprises of the two dead branches of the Tisza, the Tiszaalpári and the Szikrai dead branches (called Holt-Tisza and Dög-Tisza) and the Tiszaalpár meadow in the south of the area.
The two dead branches (of which water supply was solved with a system of locks by the national park) are lined with gallery forests, preserving something from the time when the Tisza was not controlled. Shrub willows, willow-poplar-alder soft-wood groves are in the lower parts near the river, while higher areas are dominated by oak-ash-elm associations. Because forestry treatments are restricted, the trees of the groves and gallery forests die standing up and sometimes it is only the grape vines that hold them. The water-soldier (Stratiotes aloides), the water-lily, frogbit (Hidrocharis morsus-ranae), the water-violet (Hottonia palustris) and the arrowhead grow in the dead branches which are silting up, the rare 'Tisza-bank' daisy sp. (Chrysanthemum serotimum) blooms on the riverbank. Herons nest and a lot of rare plants bloom in the Alpári meadows.
The area is a popular place for mass tourism. There is a thermal bath in the Tőserdő, a sandy beach along a part of the dead branch, anglers sit along an other part of the branch and boaters can watch birds. Well built tourist paths take visitors through the gallery forests. The flora and fauna of the area have accomodated to co-habiting with man, as inspite of heavy tourism they thrive and are in a healthy condition.
Tiszaalpár, in the south of the protected area, is also significant in terms of history. According to the ancient historiographer called Anonymus the Bulgarian prince Zalán was defeated here by the Magyars. Besides the village preserving the traditional structure of the settlements along the Tisza, remnants of an earthwork fort was uncovered by researchers.
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