Askaniya-Nova

Antelopes, zebras, hush and lunches in the steppe

     Askaniya-Nova is a major natural preserve which is open now to tourism. Tourists take rides in buggies for a fee of only 15 hryvnyas to watch wild horses, antelopes, zebras and other exotic and not so exotic animals roaming the steppe overgrown with fragrant feather-grass. One of the things that is fully appreciated there is quietness and absence of any disgusting industrial or traffic noises.
     The tour of the preserve lasts up to two hours. Longer tours are planned to be introduced with picnics and lunches right in the steppe.
     Arabatska Strilka is a spit projecting into the sea for 110 kilometres. Its width varies from 300 metres at its narrowest to 7 kilometres at its widest. It is one of the longest spits on the planet. On the east it is washed by the Azov Sea, and on the west by the Syvash Lake, whose water is too salty even for taking a swim in it.
     There are all kinds of tall tales and legends about the spit. Archaeologists have yet to search it more thoroughly than they have done so far. A stele with a mysterious sign carved into it, was discovered on the spit some time ago. It tentatively dates to the second or third century B.C.E., and probably was left by the Sarmatians who once inhabited this area.
     Ancient Greek amphorae were unearthed in the vicinity of the town Henichesk which in antiquity was a place where merchant ships stopped on their way from west to east, and from east to west. Catacombs and underground passages which are believed to have been dug centuries ago are also to be found in the vicinity of Henichesk.       Archaeologists are uncertain about who dug them, when and why.
    Curative mud and thermal springs, discovered there over twenty years ago, have not been put to any medicinal therapeutic use yet. Which is a shame, of course. It would surely pay to develop a tourist infrastructure in that area. Western visitors to Arabatska Strilka are impressed by the beauty of the place and express an opinion that the place has a greattourist potential. Investments are welcome — they will help turn Arabatska Strilka into a major tourist attraction, on a par with Cyprus or Turkey.
     There are some renovated rest homes functioning in the area, and even though their number is still small, they already attract a growing number of tourists.
    Tavriya is a potential tourist Klondike waiting to be invested in and developed.