Amazing South: Oleshky Sands - the Black Sea Sahara

Oleshky Sands is one of the largest sand massifs in the steppe part of Europe. It covers an area of about 162,000 hectares, and with the adjacent forests - more than 200,000. The massif is located in the left-bank part of the Dnipro lower reaches, 30 km east of the city of Kherson. The central part of the massif is part of the Oleshky Sands National Nature Park. It is this location that will be the subject of Intent 's next story in the series"Amazing South".

Where did the desert in the northern Black Sea region come from?

The Oleshky Sands are called a desert, but from a scientific point of view, this is not entirely true. The only similarity between this area and a desert is the presence of sandy deposits and the relief features. In terms of climate and temperature, the Oleshky Sands area can be classified as a steppe zone and called a semi-desert or a huge sand massif. There are also geological rocks underlying the sands and an underground lake, which makes this landscape a unique sandy arena, not a desert in the classical sense. Despite this, Oleshky Sands is often referred to as a desert in everyday life.

Oleshky Sands. PHOTO: upload.wikimedia.org

Oleshky Sands is a relatively young geological formation. The age of the sandy deposits that form their base is estimated at about 12 thousand years. They were formed after the melting of the Dnipro glacial tongue of the Scandinavian ice sheet, which stretched along the Dnipro valley. During the melting, a large amount of meltwater was formed, carrying sand and other sediments. At that time, the Dnipro riverbed was much smaller and could not pass the entire volume of meltwater. Therefore, the water, along with sandy material, went beyond the channel and flooded the floodplain terraces, where thick sandy deposits were later formed. Thus, in the lower reaches of the Dnipro River, sand accumulations formed on the high floodplain terrace of the river's left bank during the last ice age. Gradually, these massifs were partially covered by steppe vegetation.

Vegetation of the Oleshky Sands. PHOTO: skadovsk.org

The relief of the Oleshky Sands is represented by seven large natural zones - the so-called arenas. These sand massifs are separated by wet lowlands and forest areas. They stretch for 190 km along the Dnipro floodplain and the Dnipro estuary from Nova Kakhovka to the Kinburn Spit inclusive. Five sand arenas are directly adjacent to the Dnipro floodplain: Kakhovka, Kozachelager, Oleshkiv, Zburyev, and Ivanivka. The Chalbaska (Vynohradiv) sand arena is located to the southeast of the Oleshky arena. The seventh is the Kinburn Arena, which lies within the Kinburn Peninsula.

The sand massifs have a hilly surface with elevations ranging from 4-6 meters in the northern part and reaching 20 meters in some places. The eastern parts of the sand arenas are the most hilly. The southwest is dominated by smoothed hills and shallow pits covered with steppe vegetation. In addition, there are depressions of natural and artificial origin (craters from the explosions of World War II air strikes). They are filled with atmospheric water, creating small lakes - sagas, most of which are temporary and eventually dry up, and some are permanently filled.

There were no sand massifs here 200-300 years ago. For a long time, this area was covered with steppe vegetation and forests, which restrained the spread of sand. The emergence of the desert was "helped" by local residents who began to uncontrollably use the steppe spaces for grazing, and wind erosion, which was no longer hindered by the absence of grass, completed the creation of the new landscape. The sand freed from vegetation began to move freely, forming dunes.

The dunes. PHOTO: bls.ua

The Oleshky Sands sand massif got its name from the nearby town of Oleshky, which was originally called Oleshshia.

The ancient city of Oleshcha

This region has been inhabited for centuries. This region is rich in archaeological monuments, dating from the Stone Age and Bronze Age to the late Middle Ages. This is evidenced by numerous accidental finds.

In the times of Kyivan Rus, there was an ancient Russian settlement called Oleshshia. This name was first mentioned in ancient chronicles in 1084. Presumably, the city was founded by the Greeks in the 10th century to open trade relations with Kyivan Rus. According to a widespread version, the name Oleshcha comes from the Old Slavic word "olha" (alder). In ancient times, this was the name given to a swampy and marshy area covered with alder forests. This is exactly how the floodplains of the Dnipro looked like in those days.

Oleshcha is a historic port city at the mouth of the Dnipro River. From the end of the 11th to the first quarter of the 13th century, it was one of the southern exclaves of the Old Rus' state and was of great strategic importance. The city was located at the confluence of the Dnipro River into the Black Sea, at the intersection of important land and sea trade routes. They connected Rus with the Mediterranean and Western Europe via Byzantium, and with the Caspian Sea and the Arab world via the Azov Sea, the Don, and the Volga.

Oleshshia was a stronghold of Rus in the Lower Dnipro region, one of the important centers of fishing. Local fishermen regularly supplied Kyiv with fish products.

Oleshshia was the city that received numerous delegations and ambassadors from Byzantium, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Here, Kyivan princes even met future Kyivan metropolitans sent from Byzantium. For example, in 1147, the embassy of Prince Rostyslav Mstyslavych, which was heading to Constantinople, received the newly appointed Metropolitan John IV and the Byzantine ambassador in Oleshcha.

Oleshcha repeatedly suffered from attacks by the Mongol-Tatars. In 1239-1240, during Batu Khan's large-scale invasion of Rus, the ancient fortress city was completely burned and destroyed.

Oleshky Sands. PHOTO: khers-on.com

As a result of these tragic events, life in Oleshcha came to a standstill for a long time, although later in the XIV-XV centuries, mentions of the city resumed when the Genoese began trading there under the auspices of the Golden Horde. In Genoese sources, the city was mentioned under the names Ulice, Eleks, or Illice. After 1389, for a short period of time the city came under the influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At this time, the city is mentioned in the "List of Russian Cities Far and Near" under the name Oleshesk as one of the cities that were in the possession of the Lithuanians.

After the loss of Lithuanian positions in the northwest of the Black Sea coast, the Genoese built a castle in Ilyich, trying to gain a foothold in the area on their own. However, in the second half of the fifteenth century, Illich gradually lost its importance.

Oleshkivska Sich

The Cossack period of this area, namely the Oleshkivska Sich, should be mentioned separately. It was a territorial and military organization of the Zaporizhzhia Cossacks that originally existed in the possessions of the Crimean Khanate. It was founded in 1711 after the destruction of the Old (Chortomlyk) Sich by Russian troops in 1709 and the defeat of the Kamianske Sich in 1711.

Initially, the territory of the Oleshkivska Sich was small, but since 1712, the Cossack possessions have expanded significantly to the north to the Oril and Samara rivers. These changes occurred after Russia's defeat in the war with the Ottoman Empire. In May 1728, the Cossacks moved from here for a while to the site of the former Kamianska Sich. They stayed there until 1734. Subsequently, the Oleshcha fortress was abandoned due to the return of the Cossacks to Russian citizenship and the foundation of the New Sich. In 1784, after the annexation of the Crimea to Russia, Oleshky were settled by Don Cossacks and immigrants. By 1885, the town was home to more than 9,000 residents, who were mainly engaged in gardening and fishing. Now a memorial sign stands on the site of the Sich as a reminder of the former Cossack glory.

Occupied desert

Since the beginning of Russia' s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the natural park has been under Russian occupation. In May 2025, it was reported that the invaders had turned a significant part of the unique natural landscape into their military training ground, causing enormous damage to the ecosystem. Today, it is impossible to visit Oleshky Sands.

Юлія Сичова