Vajai-tó Természetvédelmi Terület

Within the Vajai-tó Nature Conservation Area lies the notable 78‑hectare Vajai old lake, famous for its floating peat islands, which is also a fishing lake. It belongs to the freely visitable nature conservation areas. By 2025 it had completely dried up.

Location

In Szabolcs‑Szatmár‑Bereg County, in the Northeast Nyírség, southwest of Vaját lies the Vajai old lake, enriched with floating peat islands.

Formation

The ancient rivers before the last ice age, the Old Tisza and Old Szamos, after leaving the Carpathian Mountains, spread their alluvium on the plain, which over time, due to wind‑blown sand migration and movement, formed into hollows and hills.

In the depressions between the sand hills, lakes without outflow formed from groundwater and precipitation, like the Vajai lake, which became silted up, making their area and surroundings unsuitable for agricultural cultivation.

These Nyírség non‑draining depressions were connected with artificial canals at the end of the 1800s, and their water was led to the Tisza.

This collected the water of the smaller tributary canals under the name "Lónyai‑main canal", as well as the water of the "Vajai Main Stream" built to drain the excess water of Vajai‑tó.

Vajai‑tó is among the rare places in the country where floating peat islands can still be found, and where the special rare plants remaining from the ice age that have settled on them can be observed.

By 2025 Vajai‑tó had completely dried up due to precipitation shortage, agricultural irrigation and the lowering of the groundwater level.

Floating peat islands

Their formation is a simple natural phenomenon: various aquatic plants (reed and other sedge species) produced rhizomes on the water surface, then from the multitude of floating plant parts and reed leaves a thick layer developed over the years. Then, over time, wind deposited dust, organic matter and seeds of various plants from the surrounding sand hills onto this floating layer. On the thick, air‑isolated, peat‑rich layer, wind and bird‑carried seeds germinated, and dense vegetation grew.

On the drier hills surrounding the lake, in mosaics of acacia and pine forests and meadow pastures, the meadow clover, the blue iris, the hare's-foot grass and the snake's head are found.

Fauna

The fauna of Vajai-tó is also varied. In the lake water live the water boatman, the water scorpion, the water beetle, the lake snail, the large marsh snail or spiny mud snail as well as the flat, round dish snail.

Among the fish, besides the introduced carp, amur, and other fish, there are numerous roach species, dwarf pike, the Lapp stripe.

Among the amphibians, the lake frog (Rana ridibunda), the fire-bellied toad, and many other frog species can be found here.

Among the reptiles are the grass snake (Natrix natrix) and the marsh turtle.

Among the birds are several waterbirds, such as the grebe, the tufted duck, the wild goose, the white stork.

In the reeds the reed warbler, the reed bunting and the snipe also nest.