Best of Budapest & Hungary

From Friday to Sunday, the Budapest Zoo offers a wide variety of programs for the Earth Day Earth Festival. The institution and its partners are preparing for the festival with a variety of attractions and experiences at 16 locations, and will also hold the usual animal shows, spectacular displays and experience programs of the high season.

It has been a tradition for decades to hold a multi-day event on Earth Day to promote environmental protection, conservation and wildlife. On Friday, the event is mainly aimed at study groups from nursery schools and schools, and at the weekend, families are invited to take part in a variety of activities.

A total of 16 event sites will be set up at different points around the zoo, including a craft workshop with the zoo's Green Workshop team and a wildlife rescue station. There will also be a playful zoo education station, a gardening program, a TapiZoo with hands-on animal ‘parts’ and an insect demonstration.

The Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME) will have a site dedicated to bird-friendly gardens and everyday bird conservation, and another site will introduce visitors to native reptiles and amphibians.

The Institute of Soil Science and the Hungarian Soil Science Society will add an interactive station to the program, and the Ministry of Agriculture's Wildlife Conservation Department will present the mammal of the year as part of its Wildlife of the Year program. The Herman Ottó Institute will invite the public to compost together at its program site, and the Aggtelek National Park Directorate will also be represented with an interactive venue.

The festival will also feature the ecological Oekocsiga playhouse and a sustainability playhouse, the latter courtesy of the Hungarian Environmental Education Association. The Pangea Cultural and Environmental Association will also have a site where visitors can learn about a sustainable future.