During my trip to Hiiumaa, I checked maps and found this strange sandy spot. It is in the center of the island and is named Kaibaldi sands. Since it looks so odd location-wise, I decided to go and I'm glad I did.
To get there, I had to use some narrow forest roads and at some point, the road got so sandy that I decided to not risk it and go on by foot. Don't want to get stuck in a car in the middle of nowhere.
After 10 minutes of walk, I got to the desert.
It's not a small patch of sand, it's quite a huge area and I loved it.
You can but wonder, how is a desert like this randomly in the middle of a forest. Estonia is in the north and the climate is not desert-like. Is it a lakebed and the lake disappeared somehow? Nah it's not.
I did a bit of research and found out that this is a result of man operations. The ground in the area is naturally sandy but during world war 2 this place was used as a tank training ground. Also, several forest fires burned the area down. Since then the location is like this.
Such a unique place. Here are some more shots I took there.
