Ukraine: Oleshki Sands National Park
Oleshki Sands is the second largest desert in Europe – and who could have thought something like this exists in Ukraine. The area of yellow rolling sand dunes is vast – around 160 sq km/ 60 sq miles. The dunes rise up to 5m and are also around 30-40m deep. It’s quite a surreal site – you feel like you in Egypt or UAE, and not in Eastern Europe. It is thought that the sand dunes were formed during the last ice age. During the Soviet times, the entire area was off limits and used as a bombing range.
