Alyoshkovskie Sands (Oleshkovskie Sands)
Alyoshkovskie Sands is a real desert in the Kherson region of Ukraine near the town of Tsyurupinsk. Many adventurers come to the desert to feel themselves in the middle of boundless dunes.
General information
Alyoshkovskie sands have arisen quite recently and at the fault of frank human stupidity. Previously, there was no desert here, but a vast steppe with rather tall grass. However, Baron Faltz-Fein, who was called “the king of sheep breeding” for a reason, decided to graze his countless flocks of sheep on this territory. The animals were so numerous that they literally chewed up all the grass from the root. In addition, the sheep beat the ground with their hooves. All this contributed to the fact that the sand in the Dnieper Lowlands began to move across the steppe. Its movement was also facilitated by the fact that local residents were actively cutting down trees. The desert was expanding at an alarming rate. It covered entire villages and roads. At that time, real sandstorms were walking on the territory of the Tsyurupinsk district.
.The spread of sand several times tried to stop, but all to no avail. The matter was saved by a new variety of pine trees, which were adapted to active growth on sandy soil. These pine trees were planted in the area of 100 thousand hectares around the desert and only in this way they managed to stop its spreading. Although even now the desert rages and sometimes brings its sands nearby settlements.
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Its name Alyoshkovskie sands received in honor of the nearby district center Alyoshkin, which is now called Tsyurupinskogo. However, not many people knew and are aware of its existence. For a long time the desert, which turned out to be the largest in Europe, remained a secret object, about which they did not spread. On its territory were held exercises of pilots who threw bombs, using the Alyoshkovskie sands as a military training ground.
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Now a national natural park has been created among the Alyoshkovskie sands, but it occupies only 8,020.36 hectares, although the desert itself extends for 210 thousand with all the inter-area lands. On this territory, wherever the eye reaches, there are only solid barchans, which reach 20 meters. Indeed, it seems that you are in the Sahara. Though there are oases in Alyoshkovskaya desert, but they are not palm trees, which provide their shade, but pine and birch trees, which modestly sway near small lakes. This is such a desert with some Russian tinge.
.The park was opened in 2010, so you can safely book a tour there and have a real safari. Tour guides will lead you on a safe route and make you feel very special, like African natives who bravely fight sandstorms and are not afraid to get lost among countless “floating” dunes.
.In general, the park is perfectly safe if you choose to travel with a guide. However, if you take a trip through the Alyoshkovsky sands on your own, then the safari will turn out to be quite dangerous. As already mentioned, there was a military training ground here, so there are quite a lot of unexploded bombs scattered among the sands. You will see for yourself how many of them were, if you visit the desert, because here and there you will meet their fragments.
.Before the national park was opened, miners worked here, and now they come from time to time to clear another bomb. Therefore, wandering through the desert on your own, you can accidentally step on a shell. So more than one metal hunter exploded on old mines. The fact is that to clear all the bombs is quite difficult, because the desert is constantly moving, a couple hours ago there was a barchan, and now there is not, the sand then hides the shells, then reopens them to the eye. In such conditions it is quite difficult for miners to work, that’s why independent safaris in these places are so dangerous.
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Alyoshkovskie sands – this is something special, because being there, you can feel yourself on another continent. Even greater excitement from being in the Ukrainian desert feels about the fact that once everyone’s favorite “White Sun of the Desert” wanted to shoot here, and Anatoly Kuznetsov (Red Army man Sukhov) was often in these parts.
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The air temperature during the day reaches 75 degrees here and it becomes hard to breathe, but you still want to go on, towards the new sands, and if you want, you can fry eggs right on the barchan. Amazing sensations!
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