The Lake Morotva educational trail: the beauty of the untouched environment

The forty-two-acre, naturally-formed lake and its surroundings are a paradise for biologists, ornithologists, environmentalists and those who simply want peace and quiet. The name Morotva comes from the fact that the river meander was allowed to strike naturally, thus creating the lake, quite precisely the morotva. The life of the lake and its vegetation is still allowed to evolve naturally. So, for example, reeds accumulate, the water surface decreases and the aquatic vegetation becomes richer, which attracts even more waterfowl and animals that like waterside environments. The lake provides a natural habitat for willow shrubs and white willows, but this lake also contains one of the rarest plants, creeping marshwort. We can go all the way along the educational trail to the bird-watching tower, and our trek is constantly supported by information boards. These boards help us to keep abreast of all living things in the place. The life of the lake takes place in front of us, with both floating waterfowl and predators appearing. The wildlife along the path includes several species of ducks, as well as great egrets, common kestrels and common buzzards taking wing. A high-stand has been created, which greatly helps to satisfy the curiosity of both professionals and non-ornithological visitors: from here you can get a perfect view of the lake and its surroundings. So we can observe local life from a good height, if we are in the right place at the right time, we can bear witness to the way the common moorhens “lead” their chicks a few metres away from us, throwing them up close to us. Passing by the reeds, the landscape resounds with the singing of frogs in the spring. If we’re lucky, we might even see freshwater jellyfish. 

The educational trail around Lake Morotva is part of the Szigetköz route. Our path runs past the former Danube riverbed, which also provided habitat for former marsh-dwellers, gold panners and other people with interesting trades, sometimes so close to the water that the educational trail narrows quite a bit, at other times it almost fills into a meadow island. The lake and its surroundings and wildlife all offer a wonderful view, on the educational trail in any season. Along the way, it strings together the habitats that are further and further from the open water, so that we reach from the reeds passing through the meadows and softwood groves to the hardwood forest that once bordered our rivers everywhere. Getting acquainted with the characteristic natural values of this landscape, we can be enriched by the sight of tranquillity and the beautiful, idyllic landscape. 

An application is downloadable for both Android and iOS devices. You can explore the educational path interactively with the application. Tasks, videos and interactive materials introduce the world of Lake Morotva, so we can explore it even more adventurously.

According to legend, the settlement of current-day Dunaszeg was inhabited as far back as the time of Chief Huba’s time, around the 9th century. As the lord of the Kisalföld, the leader may have been Pata, one of the settlers of his tribe, who is remembered by the village with the street name Pataháza, it is probable that the site of the first hut may have been located near the street. The village is first mentioned in official sources in 1418 as the property of the Hédervári family under the name Dunazegh. The village was to change hands several times from then on. The horseshoe-shaped Lake Morotva developed from the bend of the Mosoni-Danube next to the village of Szigetköz. The opening of the river bed was filled, gradually closed, and later became a backwater. In this way the current sludgy, calm water lake developed over a long period of time.