Dzharylhach (

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

: Джарилгач, also spelled as Dzharylgach; Crimean Tatar: Carılğaç) is a sand bank in

Skadovsk Raion Skadovsk Raion () is one of the five administrative raions of Ukraine, raions (districts) of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. Its administrative center is located in the city of Skadovsk. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the 2020 admi ...

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...

near

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Along with the Tendra island that lies to the west, in the past it was a spit that Greeks called "Course of Achilles". To the west it stretches as a spit and as a

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

, which sometimes dries up, and connects to the continental portion of

near the town of Lazurne. The wider portion used to be called Tamyraca. It was named after an ancient town of Tamyraca located on the continent across the bay. Across from the island over the Dzharylhach Bay is the city of

Skadovsk Skadovsk (, , ) is a port city on the Black Sea coast in Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Skadovsk Raion and also hosts the administration of Skadovsk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The ...

. Dzharylhach and its bay is part of the Dzharylhach National Nature Park. Its area of 56 km² and length of 42 km make it the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

's biggest sand bank, located at the

Karkinit Bay Karkinit, Karkinitski, Carcinites, or Karkinitsky Bay (, ''Karkinits'ka zatoka''; , ''Karkinitskiy zaliv'', ) is a bay of the Black Sea that separates the northwestern Crimean Peninsula from the mainland Ukraine. It was named after the early Gr ...

. The island has clean sandy beaches and mineral springs. In the middle of the island there is a fresh water spring, and more than four hundred small salty lakes are scattered all over its territory. The unique flora and fauna of Dzharylhach have been well preserved. It is a habitat for wild boars, deer,

mouflon The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, and the Caspian region, including eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran. It is also found in parts of Europe. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domest ...

, as well as numerous seagulls and

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

, hunting crabs, raps

whelk Whelks are any of several carnivorous sea snail species with a swirling, tapered shell. Many are eaten by humans, such as the common whelk of the North Atlantic. Most whelks belong to the family Buccinidae and are known as "true whelks." Othe ...

and shrimp.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

In the spring of 2023, Russian forces covered the crossing to the island with sand, permanently connecting it with the occupied part of the Kherson Oblast of Ukraine. They also created a military training ground on the island. In August 2023, a large-scale fire occurred on the island. The fire destroyed more than 1,500 hectares of the area of the nature reserve on the island.

Gallery

File:Djarylgac.jpg, Dzharylhach beach line File:Джарилгач3.JPG, Mass grave of Soviet soldiers File:Dzharylhach 2013-08.jpg, Beach resort with a pier (2013) File:Djarylgac-2013-3.JPG, "Turtle beach" (2013) File:Djarylgac old majak.jpg, Old lighthouse File:Djarylgac majac.jpg, Another beach with two lighthouses in the background, old and new (2012) File:Одеська та Миколаївська губернії 1922.jpg, Map of Southern Ukraine before the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

where Dzharylhach is a spit (sandbar), not an island

References

zatyshny.com.ua
{{Authority control Geography of Kherson Oblast Islands of Ukraine Islands of the Black Sea Skadovsk Raion Spits of Ukraine Spits of the Black Sea