ANGLERS, the Tisza Lake consists of many channels, where an abundance of flora and fauna can be found.

“I have been coming to this lake for over 10 years, and I think that it is the best place for a holiday in Hungary,” says Tibor, our driver for this journey. His girlfriend is not as enthusiastic, thinking that the lake is simply a lackluster locale immersed with mosquitoes. We set out to find the truth.

Abádszalók, the beach resort

“Today there is a military air-show, and tonight there will be a concert on the main stage of the beach,” says István Szabó, deputy mayor of the village of Abádszalók, the part of the Tisza Lake most visited by tourists. Szabó was busy overseeing festivities on one of the town’s most hectic days of the year. In the background, a large military helicopter slowly took off as hoards of summer visitors gathered to watch. Abádszalók seems like a paradise for tourists, with swimming pools, campgrounds, motorboats, big crowds and an abundance of fish and chips.

It is not surprising to find artists wandering around among the crowds since a fine art master class is held near the lake each summer. The course is based on interpretations of the Tisza Lake by five contemporary Hungarian artists, interpretations which subsequently make up a traveling exhibition. The Tisza has inspired many artists, and a number of well-known Hungarian poets and writers have created works somehow inspired by the wild river.

“Who drinks the water of the Tisza, his heart will want to return,” writes the famed Hungarian writer, Géza Gárdonyi, in his key novel “Egri Csillagok.” The Tisza has also been described by well-known Hungarian poets as a river that changes its flow and its depths wantonly. In the poems of Hungary’s most famous poet and revolutionary, Sándor Petőfi, the Tisza is a metaphor for the country’s revolutionary emotion. Another Hungarian poet, Endre Ady, describes the river as a symbol for Hungary’s backwardness and poverty.

Today, Tisza Lake and the surrounding area is recognized as a World Heritage site, honoring the region’s beauty and abundance of flora and fauna. At the same time, for people living near the river’s banks, it is also equated with danger, because of the annual flooding that has destroyed much in recent years.

Changing traditions

Arriving at the docks of Tiszafüred, a small boat awaited us. Less than 20 minutes later, we arrived at a narrow reed-filled byway. We passed through it and came upon an area called Óhalászi Dead Tisza. Here, we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of white and yellow water lilies.

“Now we can swim,” said our guide, after which we quickly jumped into the chilly river just as the sun set. Meandering through the Tisza Lake is like going through an incredible natural maze. Birds, large and small, surrounded us, as did reeds and marshy grasslands. Several times during the trip our boat – equipped with a small motor - had to be stopped as we became entangled in the grasslands, and we had to paddle by hand into the least frequented corners of this natural dreamland.

After several hours on the Tisza, and satisfied with our adventure, we departed the waters to dine on traditional Hungarian fish soup. We chose a local restaurant with a gypsy violinist, where we could eat “korhely,” which is a fish soup, with lemon and sour cream made with carp or catfish. The next morning, before sunrise, we started the day driving around the lake, and meeting with locals and visitors. People who live around the Tisza Lake work mainly in agriculture and fishing. “I have been fishing here for 40 years,” says Laci, who we met on shore. He greeted us from the chilly waters while his two daughters swam about in a quiet corner of the lake where they camped. In the early 1980s, anglers made up the majority of tourists at the Tisza, says Laci, who describes the lake as a fisherman's paradise. Decades later, after the river was harnessed, it was annually drained of its waters to prevent the dangers of ice-flows to neighboring villages. While this left the river more secure, it left the lake’s fishermen frustrated to see thousands of fish dying every year. Fishing along the Tisza, however, is still a favorite pastime. Anglers use a special technique to catch fish based on longstanding traditions. Years ago, local women washed their clothes in the river, and to their amazement, the fish were plentiful on laundry day, apparently attracted by the clotheswashing.

Local anglers surmised that the fish were attracted to the noises the clothes made as they rhythmically hit the water. Fishermen today try to emulate similar noises with special pieces of wood, and the noise has even been given a name: “puttyogtatás.” Traditions do change along the Tisza, however. On the second day of our trip, we watched as 14 girls and women diligently fished, with their fathers, husbands and boyfriends rooting for them from behind. This was no band of amateurs, the meticulous movements of each participant were deliberate and strategic. It turned out we had stumbled upon the final round of a countrywide women’s fishing competition. “If I want to catch a fish, I always go with my daughter,” says a proud father watching his daughter compete. And he was right. His daughter won first prize by catching a 10.8 kilogram fish in three hours.

Tourism in focus

Up until the end of the 1960s, very little attention was paid to Hungary’s Tisza Lake, with regard to tourism. The main goal was rather to “proudly” generate energy and harness the wild river. Conservation came in second, while tourism played a distant third. It was around this time that the hydroelectric power station at Kisköre was built – which remains today the largest such station countrywide. The station was constructed to irrigate the nearby Jászsag and Nagykunság areas. But by the time an irrigation canal was built, agriculture had started to become less profitable. A new way to sell the region then began to develop, and tourism came into the picture.

In 1991, the first parliamentary resolution relating to Tisza Lake stated tourism as a primary development goal. Another important part of the decision was to determine the level at which the Tisza’s waters would be maintained through 2011, which impacted fishing, boating and tourism. Infrastructure began to be developed as tourism figures increased. While today most visitors are attracted to Abádszalók, a long-term goal is to improve the eco-tourism potential of Tisza Lake.

“We are trying to attract the kind of tourists who are interested in nature, and value the natural aspects of the lake,” says Lajos Szabó, who is a project manager with the local Hungarian Tourism Office. He says eco-tourists consciously consider the natural values offered by areas they visit. The consumer power of eco-tourists is a means of supporting nature reserves, he adds. Tisza Lake is one of the most important wildlife areas in the country, filled with an abundance of flora and fauna, and a bird reserve with some 200-300 species. The reserve at Tiszavalk is a protected natural space of some 2,500 hectares, belonging to Hortobágyi National Park. Because of its protected status, the reserve can only be visited with a guide, who will help visitors recognize the different species of birds. “There are many unique species which cannot be found anywhere else. Unfortunately it is very hard to allure the naturalists from the big fowler nations, while there are no bird-watching stations on the lake,” says Szabó.

Even though funds were earmarked for the development of a nature infrastructure around the Tisza, current tourism officials are now focusing on marketing the area instead of developing infrastructure. Such marketing endeavors are important, especially after the tragic cyanide spill of 2000. Wildlife and more than 1,000 tons of fish were killed when there was a cyanide spill at an Australian-owned Romanian gold mine in Baia Mare. The toxic material filled the Lupes and Somes rivers and eventually reached the Tisza, ultimately flowing into the Danube. Fortunately, due to a developed floodgate system, Tisza Lake survived the tragedy with little damage, and now, several years later, tourism booms once again.