MTSZ the Hungarian Ramblers' Association "Friends of Nature"

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	Introduction Csongrád County Nature Friends' Association Kinizsi 100 - long distance hikeing
	33. Internationale Theisstour

MTSZ, the Hungarian Rambler's Association "Friends of Nature" introduces itself

MTSZ, the Hungarian Ramblers' Association "Friends of Nature", became detached from state sport guidance in 1987, and has been ever since an independent countrywide social organisation. MTSZ is an association of ramblers' clubs registered at court under No. 49/1988. Its members are social organisations carrying out rambling (hiking) activities, sport clubs having ramblers' (hikers') sections, students' sport clubs, and other social organisations carrying activities related to rambling. At present it is MTSZ which has the greatest number of members among all Hungarian organisations of this type. The number of its member organisations amounts to 500-600 comprising more than 40 thousand organised ramblers (i. e. members having membership cards) most of whom are young people. MTSZ is a social organisation organised on the basis of its own values, acting on voluntary principles, and considering itself organic part of democratic civil society. Its logo is the traditional international badge of the friends of nature, in which the handshake symbolises friendship and union, the stylised mountains and alpine roses symbolise the love and protection of the nature.

MTSZ takes upon itself and professes the following values:

• firm humanistic morale, deep respect for mankind
• acknowledging of, and respect for, the autonomous individuals and their collectivity, and the acceptance and protection of variety and diversity deriving from the above
• the need for local, national and international solidarity, union, and collective life
• the principle of sustainable development, the harmonic unity of man and nature, environment and technology
• love of the narrower and broader homeland
• sound physical and psychical way of life
• the need for self-education and acquisition of knowledge

Resulting from the above, MTSZ refuses any elimination and exclusion based on age, sex, nationality (ethnic unit), education, profession, social position, ideological and religious conviction; any violent solution of differences in opinion; any way of looking at the nature as exclusively a kind of resource. MTSZ is the continuer and fosterer of the traditions of Hungarian ramblers' (hikers') organisations established since 1873.

The object of MTSZ is to promote and facilitate the formation of a sound way of living by means of rambling, to protect wildlife, and to care for the prerequisites of the above as follows:

• it safeguards the ramblers' interests within society
• it cares for the professional development of rambling
• it organises and backs any endeavour serving the interests of environmental and wildlife protection
• it disseminates and intensifies the environmental way of thinking, and ecological attitude
• it cares for the education of ramblers and their guides, including the acquisition of ecological knowledge
• it maintains the network of marked paths, and contributes to its development
• it promotes the creation, maintenance, and acquisition of institutions and establishments serving for the purposes of rambling
• it contributes to the publishing of books, maps and journals for ramblers, and to their dissemination among the latter
• it propagates and popularises the objects, ideas, institutions and possibilities of the ramblers' movement
• it co-operates, also by means of organising special rescuing services, in the rescue of persons having got into trouble in the course of rambling
• it maintains and expands the international relations of the Hungarian ramblers' movement

MTSZ is a member of the International Federation "Friends of Nature" (Naturfreunde International - NFI) and of the European Ramblers' Association (ERA). NFI is an organisation having 600,000 members on several continents which is active in the field not only of rambling but also of environmental protection and of peace movement. ERA is active in the field of the establishment and maintenance of a continuous network of marked tourist paths covering the whole of Europe. Three of these international tourist paths (E4, E7, E3) traverse also Hungary, and MTSZ cares for their establishment and maintenance. Furthermore, the Hiking Committee of MTSZ co-ordinates the maintenance of an additional 10,000 km of marked paths which exist in Hungary. This is an activity by means of which MTSZ assists the masses of people, who have no guide and due knowledge in the field of orientation and map-reading yet like to ramble and make excursions, in getting safely acquainted with nature, becoming fond of it, recognising and protecting its values.

The scope of the activities of MTSZ covers rambling on foot, ski and bike, aquatics, caving, and mountaineering. In addition to these specialised activities MTSZ runs also a Wildlife Protection Service (TESZ) and an Accommodation Information Service (TÜSZ):

• TESZ mainly constitutes a voluntary wildlife protection sentry. It maintains a close relation to the national parks, as well as to the bodies of wildlife protection and forestry, agreeing weekend voluntary sentry with them, and also regularly organises annual camps of wildlife protection.

• TÜSZ, which is a service of volunteers who collect information of accommodation facilities, regularly collects the addresses and characteristics of such facilities suitable for ramblers' and students' trips, maintaining and publishing their directory. It is regularly on duty once a week providing inquirers with information personally or by phone. The updated directory of accommodation is annually compiled by TÜSZ and published by MTSZ.

There are diverse meetings which regularly recur every year. Some of them are events connected with different age groups, e. g. the National Meeting of Rambling Children (TEGYOT) or the National Meeting of Rambling Students (TEDOT). Others are meetings of specialised branches, e. g. the National Meeting of Hikers, the National Meeting of Cyclists, and the National Meeting of Mountaineers. Some of our member organisations also regularly organise model and educational trips and camps.

The Association of Young Ramblers (TFSZ), the youth organisation of MTSZ, takes place in the headquarters of MTSZ too. Its business hours are between 3 and 6 p. m. every Thursday.

The Presidium of MTSZ created a foundation called "Tourist huts" for the establishment and maintenance of tourist accommodation facilities. Its invoice number is (Budapest Bank Rt.) 10102086-15035702-00000007.

In addition to the accommodation directory MTSZ regularly publishes methodological books, pamphlets, maps and training materials to back rambling activities, which can be purchased by organised ramblers on cost price at the headquarters of MTSZ. The monthly newsletter "Természetbarát Híradó" (Ramblers' News) provides regular information of the life of MTSZ, the sessions of its presidium, timely events and happenings, and the latest publications and rules which may interest ramblers. It also regularly publishes accounts of experiences and descriptions of hikes, popular science articles, information of wildlife protection and other interesting topics.

Every organised rambler has got a ramblers' insurance policy for accidents which may occur in the course of trips.

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