SARDINIA, IN A COMPLETELY WILD ENVIRONMENT

Oristano, city and province, overlooking the Sardinian Sea for over 100 kms in a perfect crescent, forming the Gulf of Oristano, with high tumbling cliffs and precipices eroded by strong winds, an ideal haunt for surfers.

This is a place of great scenic beauty and a wildlife sanctuary. In the south, the Gulf ends with the promontory of “Capo Frasca” and the cliffs of the “Torre dei Corsari” (the Pirates Tower) from which you can see the deep blue of the sea merging with the transparent turquoise of the shallow sandy depths; the rosey hues of the desert dunes and the brilliant greens of the Mediterranean ‘maquis’ on the surrounding hills.

Still further south, more vertical cliffs over the ‘Costa Verde’, the beach of ‘Piscinas’, then more ochre coloured desert dunes (the highest in Europe) shaped by the wind, dotted with typical low tufted vegetation.

You might even meet a ‘Sardinian deer’ around the beaches and marine turtles which lay their eggs under the sand in the month of June.

The coastal cliffs proceed inland forming the crested ranges of the ‘Sulcis Iglesiente’, once a place for various mining activities and today classified by UNESCO as the ‘ First park in the geosite-geopark world net of geo-mining historical and environmental parks’.

Then, going back northwards, past Capo Frasca, the gulf follows a pattern of beaches, dunes and lagoons, some open to the sea, some fed by rivers which become brackish pools, others which evaporate and become saltwater lakes. This area has the highest concentration of wetlands in Sardinia.

The “”Sinis Promontory” closes the gulf at the northern end forming a natural breakwater to the deep northern cove, where the Phoenician city of Tharros descends the slopes of the hills to reach the calm waters, aptly named ‘Mare Morto’.

The geological landscape of the Sinis Peninsula, unique in Italy, covers all the phases of the planet’s evolution. From the Paleozoico (around 300 million years ago) down to the basalt from lava in the Pliocene period of volcanic eruptions. Typical examples are the huge rounded rocks which form the slopes going down to the Tower of S.Giovanni of Sinis and near the archaeological site of Tharros.

The whole area of the wetlands behind the Peninsula, dunes, lagoons and salt lakes. are part of a vast ‘System of Parks and Nature Reserves of Sardinia’ in addition to the WWF Oases. Outside the Sinis Peninsula, the system of alternating beaches and high cliffs plunging into deep waters form the well known beaches of the Arutas Islands, Mari, Ermi, Mesa, Longa: beaches of white quartz and crystal clear turquoise water, together with inebriating perfume and light. Unforgettable visions.

Here the wealth of wildlife is unequalled in its varity, colour and scents making a whole environment truly recognised as inebriating. It is known as the ‘Protected marine area of the Sinis Peninsula and the Island of “Maldiventre”.