Military maps (katonai térkép) in the standard 1:50 000 and 1:25 000 scales are available in a few specialist shops in Budapest. There is really no need to buy these more expensive maps as the walks in this guide are covered by the Cartographia series, which is sufficiently accurate for following waymarked trails.
Forestry, Hunting, National Parks, Privatisation and Access
Forestry
About 15 per cent of Hungary is covered in woodland, most of which is in the hill country. The state planted a third of today’s forest in the 1940s, although many clear-cut areas have since regenerated naturally. The state continues to manage over half of the forests, but the little forest trains no longer haul tonnes of timber down from the hills. Since the 1980s there has been more selective felling and an increasing emphasis on conservation. Forty per cent of forest is now in private hands or belongs to those agricultural co-operatives that survived the changes after 1989. Forestry operations during the week are a fact of life and a route may be closed for safety reasons. There is usually an alternative route to get around the obstacle.
Hunting
As you wander along the trails you will see many hunting hides that resemble sinister prison camp watchtowers. Detailed maps of game reserves drawn up centuries ago are evidence of Hungary’s long relationship with hunting, and in the fifteenth century King Matthias stocked his reserves with lions. Game management declined during the turbulent Habsburg–Ottoman wars. As late as the 1940s, Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, went as far as evicting tenants in order to turn his estate into a bear reserve. Despite the egalitarian ideology of the Communist era, hunting continued to have overtones of privilege and high-ranking party members met in the Zemplén for hunting weekends. Nowadays, foreigners pay good money to shoot game in Hungary. The season for most game is between 1 October and 31 January, but walkers who keep to waymarked trails and stay out of the woods between dusk and dawn are unlikely to encounter hunters. Look for the following type of notice: Figyelem! Belépni 16-09 között életveszélyes és tilos! This warns people to stay away from an area between 4pm and 9am.
View from Hârom-kő, Bükk, Walk 9
National Parks and Protected Areas
Hungary boasts many national parks and they provide a refuge for the nation’s rarest flora and fauna. The territory of a national park or other specially protected area is delimited on walking maps using red dots. On the ground a sign with an egret symbol marks the entrance to a national park, although some regions have their own symbol: the fire salamander in the Aggtelek; and the carline thistle in the Bükk. Look for the letters NP (Nemzeti Park – National Park); TVK (Tájvédelmi Körzet – Landscape Protection Area); and TVT (TermészetvédelmiTerület – Nature Conservation Area). Many walks in this guide pass through national park land and other conservation zones, so keep to the waymarked paths and access will not be a problem. Red hatching on a walking map or the words Nem látogatható! (No visitors!) denote highly restricted areas where rare birds are nesting. Do not be tempted to enter these zones hoping to see rare species as the restriction might be for another reason such as hidden mine shafts dating back to the eighteenth century. Note that all caves in Hungary are protected.
Follow the Hungarian countryside code: stay on the waymarked paths; do not light fires; keep dogs on a leash; do not play radios, pick flowers or leave litter; and camp only in designated areas. If you are taking a very large group into a national park ask the relevant authority for permission.
Access
During the Communist period egalitarianism was the ideology if not always the practice, but there was at least an emphasis on access to the countryside for all. In reality, however, international frontiers or areas near military installations were out of bounds. Agreements between the countries of the Warsaw Pact to control the movement of dissidents obliged the Hungarians to patrol the border with fellow socialist Czechoslovakia, and anyone who strayed too close to the frontier was escorted away at gunpoint, or worse. Today the problem for walking access is privatisation. Although Hungarian law obliges private landowners to honour waymarked routes set up before privatisation there have been problems such as landowners building fences without consultation. The main pressure group dealing with walkers’ access issues, the Union of the Hungarian Friends of Nature (MTSZ), was involved in government negotiations with private forest owners, but is powerless in the face of failed negotiations with other landowners.
With a few exceptions the walks described in the guide follow the official waymarked trails to ensure that there are no access problems or disputes with landowners. Apart from the restricted areas mentioned above it is permissible to explore the many unmarked tracks through state forest land and national parks. Hungarian walkers tend to follow waymarks, so this is a good way of seeing the more secretive wildlife such as the moufflon or eagle owl. Respect boundaries whether in the public or private domain: do not climb fences or gates unless there is a ladder provided and it is on a waymarked route. Appendix 2 lists a few warning and no entry signs the walker is likely to encounter. As a general rule stay out of an area with signs saying Tilos! or Figyelem!
Village Facilities
The practical information about accommodation and local public transport should cover the traveller’s needs, but as much of the walking passes through villages it is worth mentioning a few points. A village with a tiny population can be spread along a very long main street – more than a mild inconvenience if you have walked a long way on a hot day. Facilities are often not well centralised, and it can be a long trek to find accommodation, a shop or a bar which is situated, from the exhausted walker’s point of view, at the wrong end of the village. A few tourist-friendly villages have information boards in English and German but they are often poorly designed, badly translated or have faded lettering. With few exceptions village shops tend to close by midday Saturday and do not open again until Monday, although shops in villages geared to tourists open later and on Sundays. Bread runs out early, and goodquality fruit and vegetables are difficult to find because most villagers grow their own. Look out for tables in front of houses laden with garden produce. There is an honesty box for the payment, although it is not often clear how much the householders, who are rarely around, want for a green pepper.
Every village has one or two bars called a kocsma, italbolt, söröző or eszpresszó, which is usually a very basic affair, full of men, and often does not have a women’s toilet, but despite this they are not hostile places for women. When entering a bar it is proper to greet the occupants with the polite address. If you are a man do not be surprised if locals coming into the bar shake everyone’s hand including yours before going up to order a drink. Some villages have a restaurant geared to the tourist trade offering excellent dishes made from locally caught game. Menus often have English and German translations.
Camera film is rarely available in the countryside, but try the post office, where postcards and maps are also on sale. For walking and camping gear Budapest and Miskolc have several shops which stock a variety of camping stove gas canisters and insect repellent (see Appendix 4).
Most villages run an annual fair (búcsú) or folk festival (fsalunapok) which celebrates the wine harvest or the end of winter. The festival may involve a church procession, outdoor concerts, marching bands, and women in regional costume. There are also less traditional music festivals and art days set in pretty regions such as the Káli-medence in the Balaton Uplands or the Zemplén. Check with the local branch of Tourinform for details of any festivals in the area. Many villages have a tiny museum of local life and traditions, or tájház. Unfortunately the museum is often locked, although the curator can be contacted at the address on the fence or in the window. Locals are usually helpful and if they spot a tourist lurking around the museum they will pass the message on to the curator who probably lives in the village. Museums are closed on Mondays.
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