Hungary’s first national park was established on January 1, 1973 in Hortobágy to protect the area’s unique natural and ethnographic values. It is located on the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld) in the eastern part of Hungary (map). Hortobágy is an 800 square kilometer national park, the largest protected area in the country and the largest semi-natural grassland in Central Europe. The entire area of the Hortobágy National Park is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage site. The never-ending plain, the Puszta is a complex mosaic of grasslands, loess ridges, alkaline pastures, meadows and different wetlands, mostly marshes. Hortobágy provides habitat for various species including more than 300 bird species, many mammals and countless insects and other arthropods.

Hortobágy is one of my favorite places in Hungary. Growing up in the western part of the country among hills and mountains I was always fascinated by the Puszta. I loved every time my family went on a vacation to the Alföld. Later, I went to study biology at the Universtiy of Debrecen, which was just an hour drive away from the Hortobágy so the area became my playground as an aspiring nature photographer.

After graduating, I worked as an ecologist at the Egyek-Pusztakócs LIFE-Nature rehabilitation project in the Hortobágy National Park. The program implemented conservation strategies at landscape level and followed the changes of its flora and fauna. The project was a great success and improved the conservation status of the grasslands and marshes in the Hortobágy National Park. I authored and co-authored several articles and booklets about this unique area and of course created many nature photographs of its natural beauties. Here’s a small selection of my favorite photos of the Puszta showing the essence of Hortobágy as I see it.