Oleshky Sands

Oleshky Sands National Nature Park protects a remarkable natural phenomenon: the largest expanse of sand in Europe, often referred to as the Ukrainian Sahara. Located in Kherson Oblast near the lower Dnieper River, the Oleshky Sands cover approximately 161,000 hectares, with the national park protecting the most ecologically significant core area. The sands are not a natural desert but rather an anthropogenic landscape created by overgrazing and deforestation during the nineteenth century, which destabilized previously vegetated sand deposits. The resulting landscape of rolling dunes, sparse vegetation, and unique adapted ecosystems has become an attraction in its own right.