hortobágy
Yet Hortobágy is much more than puszta. The name Hortobágy does not refer to puszta but to a river; it translates into ‘small river in the Hort region’. There are several forest-fringed rivers that lazily meander through the open country, the Tisza River being the most important one. This river habitat adds yet another dimension to the nature of the Hortobágy region. Hungary’s other puszta reserves The Hortobágy is the best known Hungarian puszta, but it is not the only one. Three other National Parks protect the other surviving patches of puszta in Hungary. Körös Maros National Park consists of 13 separate reserves covering 42,000 hectares scattered throughout south-eastern Hungary in the region of the rivers Körös and Maros. The Körös Maros NP is particularly rich in loess puszta (see page 43). It boasts an impressive wildlife and flora and just like Hortobágy, houses important riverine habitats. Kiskunság National Park lies between the Danube and Tisza rivers in south-central Hungary, not far from Budapest. It consists of 9 separate reserves covering 53,000 hectares. The reserves protect a wide range of landscapes, including sandy puszta, a type not present in the Hortobágy. Kiskunság also comprises some huge, bare sand dunes, saline and loess pusztas and riverine and agricultural land. Most saline steppe lakes lie in this region. Fertő-Hanság National Park lies in the small Hungarian plain (Kis-Alföld), on the border with Austria. It comprises the southern part of Lake Fertő, better known by its German name Neusiedler See. Fertő-Hanság comprises extensive brackish marshes, some forests and grasslands, which are a man-made version of the puszta. Remnants of the puszta are also present in adjacent Austria, Serbia and Romania.
landscape
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