Location: Miskolc, Northern Hungary Map
Area: 431.3 km²
Western Gate Visitor and Study Centre
3324 Felsőtárkány, Ifjúság út 34/1.,
Tel: +36 36/534-078
Bukk National Park is located near village of Miskolc in the Northern Hungary. Bukk National Park is the largest national park in the country and covers an area of 431.3 km². Bukk National Park also contains the most extensive network of trails. Rolling hills are covered predominantly by untouched beech forests. Additionally the national park contains the deepest cave in Hungary. Istvánlápa Cave reaches a depth of 800 feet and a length of 2.5 miles. You can find more information about Bukk National Park in Western Gate Visitor and Study Centre.
Geography
The Bükk region is a member of the
Northern Central Mountains with a different geological history than
the other volcanic mountains. Most of it is built up of rocks of
marine sedimentary origin, mainly dolomite and limestone. Its
plateau is surrounded by steep cliffs, the Intestinal Stone, the Pes
Stone, the Tar Stone, the Red Stone and other “stones” with
magnificent views of the southern foot of the mountains. Most of the
former peaks are affected by the route of the National Blue Tour.
The beautiful forms of the mountains are also the perforated
limestone surfaces divided by grooves and cavities, and the arms and
devil plows. The special ornaments of the Bükk region are the
excellent limestone tuff formations from the water of the karst
springs.
The most uniform part of the mountain range is the
Bükk plateau, which is on average 800 meters high, which is divided
into two parts, the Great and the Little Plateau. The appearance of
the plateaus is determined by karstification. The surface of the
Bükk Plateau is varied by various karst forms: springs, sinkholes,
tufts. It is characterized by ridges and gorge valleys.
We
know more than 1,100 caves in the Bükk National Park, 45 of them are
highly protected. Among them is the deepest cave in the country, the
275-meter-deep Miner Cave. Other significant caves are the built
Anna Cave and Szent István Cave in Lillafüred, the Spring Cave in
Miskolctapolca, and the open-air Szeleta and Balla Caves.
Its
springs and streams are rich in water. The landmark of the region is
the Veil Waterfall, which falls from a height of 17 meters on the
limestone tuff dams of the Szalajka stream.
Flora
About
94% of the park is covered by forest. Among the forests of Bükk, the
most widespread are the exchange oaks, which are hornbeam-oak in the
higher regions, and then approx. Above 600 meters, the mountain
beeches follow. One of the most interesting places in the BNP is the
Primeval Forest, whose beech trees are 180-200 years old. No
forestry activities have been carried out in the area for more than
100 years, and hikers have even been banned from there for a few
years. (It used to be a marked hiking trail, today it is surrounded
by a fence, so you can get around it with a significant detour and a
non-negligible catchment.) In addition to the beeches, there are
also pine forests in the mountains, which are forests without
exception.
On the plateau, the most diverse flora can be
connected to the meadows divided by several blocks. Rare plant
species live here, such as the fiery lily (Lilium bulbiferum) (fire
lily), the slender (Aconitum variegatum subsp. Gracile) and the
Moldavian helmet flower (Aconitum moldavicum), the yellow violet
(Viola biflora) and the northern dragonfly ruyschiana). The
characteristic ornament of the grazed mountain meadows is the dry
peanut cake (Carlina acaulis), which is also included in the emblem
of the national park. The most feared of the orchids is the Blessed
Virgin slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) (forest slipper wine, thrush
glass). There are 53 species of orchids in the area of the
national park, including: anacamptis pyramidalis, Dactylorhiza
fuchsii, Dactylorhiza incarnata, Dactylorhiza subulan (Dactylorhiza
elsata), Epipactis futakii, Epipactis helleborine (Epipactis
latina), Epipactis leptochila, Epipactis microphylla, Müller meadow
(Epipactis microphylla), St. John's wort (Epipactis palustris),
Cyclamen purple grasshopper (Epipactis placentina), St. John's wort
(Epipactis tallosii), St. John's wort (Epipactis voethii), Mustache
conifers (Epipogium aphyllum) Adriatic frost flower (Himantoglossum
adriaticum), sedge (Limodorum abortivum), variegated warbler
(Neotinea tridentata), summer flowering subspecies (N eotinea
ustulata subsp. aestivalis), bee warbler (Ophrys apifera), flyworm
(Ophrys insectifera), ear warbler (Orchis mascula ssp. signifera),
hero warbler (Orchis militaris).
Rocky beeches, made up of
steep, northern, rocky dolomite limestone sides, debris slopes,
poorly closed, dwarfed, gnarled trees, which are home to many plant
rarities and glacial remnant species, enjoy increased protection.
The preservation of the rocky beeches and oaks of the Bükk Mountains
is extremely important for the national survival of the slippery
orchid, a rare orchid species of exotic beauty. On the steepest
western rocky sides lives the linden-rowan relict forest, which is
very rich in sub-Alpine remnant species. A characteristic
association of the oak zone forming the lower levels is the relic
dolomite oak.
Dolomite is relatively small in Bükk, but the
rocky grasslands formed on it are even more important. Its most
valuable association is the variegated rabbit tailed grassland, of
which only a single occurrence is known in the mountains. The
variegated rabbit tailwort and the variegated reed tip
(Calamagrostis varia) are lawnmowers here, but the latent sedge
(Carex humilis) also appears in the drier, sunny parts. A rare
orchid in grasslands sloping to the northwest is Ophrys insctifera,
one of the smallest and most northerly members of the genus Bango,
often referred to as an insect-mimicking orchid. Also fragrant is
the tiny pink flower fragrant pistil flower (Gymnadenia
odoratissima).
Witnesses of the cold, continental times after
the Ice Age include the bugweed found in Hungary only in the Bükk
National Park. In Hungary, the blue-flowered northern dragon grass
opens only on the sides of the Bükk Plateau, named after its
characteristic shaped flower, in which Linnaeus thought to discover
the head of a dragon.
In the rapidly warming forests and
grasslands of the southern steep sides, plants from warmer periods
also found refuge. These include the tan, which covers the
mountainside with flames in the autumn with blood-red leaves.