Bird Adventures: The feathery programmes of Viss Emu Farm

If you meet a 170-180-centimetre-tall, 40-kilogram bird covered with grey feathers, you are probably facing an emu. It’s not worth racing with them, as you’d hardly have a chance against their speed of 50 km/h. It would be difficult to keep up the pace even while walking, considering that one step is 2.5 metres for them, and, in addition, they are just as capable of the above speed at 20 degrees below zero, or in 35-degree heat. If you still want to beat them somehow, get on an airplane: their wings are incapable of lifting them into the air.

An interesting fact is that the male’s and the female’s appearance is exactly the same, they can only be distinguished based on their voice: the former grunts, the latter makes a drumming sound. And on the subject of grunting: the emu chicks hatch as striped feathery balls that look like “wild boar piglets” with a beak.

The Viss estate, open from April to August includes woods, and lands and pastures suitable for feed grain cultivation. It is no coincidence, as on the farm about a thousand feathered folks live, and it’s quite a challenge to feed so many hungry beaks. The guests visiting the farm can meet the emus living here on a guided tour, they can see the younger and the older specimens, and they can even get an insight into the operation of the hatchery. For the children this can mean knowledge they can benefit from in biology classes. If you get hungry while roaming around, you can take part in product tasting in Bellemu garden. Here, we can make friends with such new delicacies as salami, ham shavings or crackling made of emu meat.

The farm’s artisanal meat products can be bought on the spot: the offer includes ham shavings, filleted meat, lower and upper thigh, shoulders, offal and fat. The products are so popular that it’s possible to buy them at many Hungarian retailers (in Budapest, Székesfehérvár and Baja). Otherwise, emu has only been regarded as a farm animal for the past few decades. Its characteristic meat is low in fat, and due to its high mineral content it is particularly healthy. Its taste reminds one of a mixture of venison and beef. Its fat, and the oil obtained from it is a fantastic anti-inflammatory, and it’s also suitable for wound healing and treating skin diseases, no wonder that the cosmetics industry has discovered it.

From the emu egg it’s possible to make a hearty dose of scrambled eggs, since a single egg is equal to the quantity of 10 hen eggs. In the estate shop it’s also possible to buy blown emu eggs, which are not only a great souvenir, but an excellent home decoration as well. The bird’s feathers are also utilised: they make dusters, clothes and home decoration out of them.

Before or after visiting the emu farm you can visit the natural reserve area between the Tisza and Bodrog rivers, known for its surpassingly rich fauna. If you don’t feel like walking, a region filled with birdwatching towers can be reached by boats leaving from neighbouring Zalkod or Tokaj. The area is also attractive to cyclists, for example Sárospatak is only 13 kilometres away. One thing is sure: after a day spent in the fresh air, we can go to bed pleasantly tired and filled with lots of experiences.