Above this old castle in the Zemplen Hills, we watched Pallid Harrier spar with Imperial Eagle. Photo: Bryan Bland
Imagine a music festival with some of the best European orchestras and folk ensembles performing high-quality concerts in some truly wonderful castles, churches, and palaces. Then imagine that this location is in the very heart of the best birding habitats in eastern Europe, including the world famous Hortobágy National Park—a “must” for anyone interested in European birds. Well, this combination truly exists, in the magical country of Hungary.
Hungary is known as “the land of the Great Bustard” and “the steppe of raptors,” as well as the homeland of Lizst, Bartók, and Kodály. Some 100 miles from the famous Hortobágy National Park, itself a small piece of Asia inside Europe, and nearly midway to the high Carpathian Mountains, sleeps a quiet and forested landscape, the Zemplen foothills of the Carpathians. This wonderful mosaic of small peaks, wooded slopes, beautiful valleys and rivers meandering through countryside dotted with tiny villages and castles creates an unforgettable atmosphere of peace and tranquility. Oak and beech woods clothe the northern slopes, coniferous forests cover the hilltops, and the vineyards producing the famous Tokaj wine stretch out to the south. The Carpathian castles, which are a feature of the area, represent a transition between medieval fortresses and baroque palaces, and it is within this rich cultural setting that the annual Zemplen Festival takes place. Now in its 18th year, the world-class program of music together with the unique scenery and excellent birdwatching will provide a rich and unforgettable experience. The music is wide-ranging, the selection of birds is similarly comprehensive, and by staying at just two centers we are assured of a relaxing but rewarding holiday full of birds and music.
Day 1: The tour begins with a flight from London to Budapest. Three hours’ drive from the Budapest airport is our hotel in Hortobágy National Park and the steppe grassland where we’ll look for special birds such as Long-legged Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon, and Lesser Gray Shrike. Night at Trófea Hunting Lodge, Nádudver, with Little Bittern and Kingfisher right outside the reception area.
Day 2: The Hortobágy fishpond complex is the birding Mecca of the national park. Today, from the observation towers and surrounding areas, we should see more than a hundred species including all the European herons and, with luck, Glossy Ibis. Pygmy Cormorants should festoon the trees, and there will be great flocks of migratory shorebirds on the drained and freshly exposed mud, including Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, and Spotted Redshank. In the afternoon we’ll visit some natural and reconstructed lakes to look for other shorebirds such as Broad-billed and Marsh Sandpipers, Red-necked Phalarope, and Temminck’s Stint. In the evening we’ll be entertained during our slambuc tasting and an al fresco meal at our hotel by the Forget-me-not zither ensemble. Night at Trófea.
Day 3: After an early breakfast we’ll spend a short time birding at the small lake near our hotel, then drive to Darassa in the northern part of the national park. This is the best area for birds of prey, as the steppe is full of Sousliks, a major prey item. We’ll look for Imperial Eagle and Saker here, a Goshawk may appear above the forested patches, and with luck we might see White-tailed or Lesser Spotted Eagles. We’ll then leave Hortobágy National Park and travel to the Carpathian foothills via Debrecen Great Wood for Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Short-toed Treecreeper, and a variety of passerines.
We’ll reach our luxury hotel in Tarcal in time to shower and change before setting off for Sárospatak for dinner and the opening performance of the Zemplen Festival. Over the years these gala orchestral concerts have brought us some real treats—from a truly surround-sound performance of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols to enacted scenes (not just the familiar suite) from Kodaly’s Háry János, and we’ve enjoyed symphonies, piano concertos, and violin concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorák, Handel, Brahms and Shostakovich.
Days 4-8: The next five days will be a wonderful mix of birds and music. We’ll visit protected tranquil forests in the Zemplen valleys, where we’ll search the dense canopies for Ural Owl. There will be other forest specialists to look for as well, including Black, Lesser Spotted, Middle Spotted, Great Spotted, Gray-headed, and maybe White-backed Woodpeckers. Abandoned quarries are home to Eurasian Eagle Owl, Blue Rock Thrush, Serin and Black Redstart, while a few remaining Bee-eaters should be found around the steep clay walls, and the bushes should be full of migrating birds perhaps including Wryneck, Woodlark, and Barred Warbler.
Raptors patrol the skies above the wide open valleys of the Zemplen Hills, where we should see Honey Buzzard and Imperial, Short-toed, and Golden Eagles, while in the floodplain meadows and gallery forests of the River Bodrog we can expect to see White and Black Storks, Black Kite, Ferruginous Duck, and marsh terns, with White-tailed Eagle and Hobby distinct possibilities.
The musical offerings are equally sublime. In recent years we’ve been treated to afternoon concerts of ravishing music by de Lassus, Monteverde, Purcell, Schütz, Dalla Casa, Lotti, Pachelbel, Albinoni, Pergolesi, and Surianus, among others. There have been evenings when we could sit back, close our eyes, and, in the most perfect of settings, allow the music of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Schubert, Rachmaninov, Bartok, Vivaldi, and Barber to waft over us. There is always the magnificent Renaissance dinner in Sáropatak Castle courtyard to look forward to, while for sheer variety three contrasting concerts in a single day might include a magnificently sonorous Ukrainian choir, a baroque guitar recital, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. In recent years we’ve also enjoyed the odd opera. Nights at the Degenfeld Palace, Tarcal.
Days 9-10: We spend our last two days back at our hotel in the Hortobágy. We’ll make a special effort to seek out some of the secretive birds that live in the reed fringes of the numerous fishponds, such as Water Rail, Little and Spotted Crakes, and Penduline and Bearded Tits, and we’ll explore the grazed grasslands for Stone-curlew, migrant Dotterel, Montagu’s Harrier, and Tawny Pipit. At the edge of the steppe, on freshly cut alfalfa fields, Great Bustards should be gathering in small groups, while flocks of Yellow-legged Gulls may contain an impressive Great Black-headed Gull. For our special farewell dinner, complete with folk dancing and traditional music, we’ll travel over the puszta by horse and cart to a remote farm. Nights at Trófea Hunting Lodge.
Day 11: After breakfast we’ll set off on our journey back across the steppe, stopping at several places to enjoy once more the birds and landscapes of the previous ten days. We may opt to end our tour with some sightseeing in Budapest before driving to the airport for our flight back to London, where the tour concludes.
Updated: 20 June 2008
Prices
- 2009 price not yet available
Notes
Maximum group size 16, with two leaders.
This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird.