VII.2. Basic hydrological notions

The whole area of Hungary is part of the Danube’s watershed area. The Danube collects all the waters that come from the neighbouring mountains and run toward the inner areas of the Carpathian basin. Due to these geographical features Hungary offers excellent opportunities for water tourism. Our waters are clean, they run slowly and these features are very good for water tourism. A stream, a river, a big river , wild waters, lakes or the floodzones of rivers offer different experiences when canoeing, kayaking, or rowing there. (Németh, Némethné 1997). Classical tours are usually organized in the upper section of the Tisza River and on the rivers Bodrog and Körös.

For further details see:
http://www.moderngeografia.hu/tanulmanyok/magyar_turizmus/ujvari_krisztina_2009_4.pdf

In order to fully utilize Hungary’s waters and have a complex experience, it is also important to know as much as  possible about them, their environment and those spatial and temporary changes, which are typical of them.

For us, teachers, participating in or leading tours on waters and camping by them is a serious and responsible job and it has numerous educational benefits. On the one hand we have the opportunity to teach about healthy life and can organize free time activities acordingly. On the other hand, by teaching technical schools necessary for water travel, camping and traffic rules, social norms we can also convey significant subject knowledge. Water and its man-made environment represent an interactive and reflective learning environment, though which children can playfully learn about geography, physics and biology. This knowledge serves as foundation for more complex interdisciplinary material.(E.g. hydrology, environmental science).  

In the next chapter those basic notions and phenomena will be surveyed which are of utmost importance for those who are engaged in one form or another of water tourism. Water sports and touring on water are based on these phenomena.  (Bánhidi 2011). This teaching material concentrates only on rivers, since in Hungary they play the most decisive role in water tourism. considering the markets of supply and demand. (Ujvári 2009).