Not many people know that the Black Sea coast between the Danube and Dniester is a stunning world of estuaries, endless steppe, sandy spits, beaches, a great number of lakes and a whole kingdom of birds that amaze travelers with the number of individuals of each species.
One of the most interesting objects of the Ukrainian Black Sea coast is Lake Sasyk or Kunduk. Regardless of the sound, both words are translated from Turkic as «stinky». In relation to the Black Sea, the lake is located almost perpendicularly. With a length of 29 km, the width of the reservoir varies from 3 to 12 km, the area of the mirror is 210 km², and the depth in some places reaches 2.7 meters.
Like many estuarine lakes on the Danube-Dniester line, this lake appeared as a result of blocking the river mouths with a sandy spit. In this case, the Sarata and Kogylnik rivers «suffered», for which the waves of the Black Sea washed a significant sand barrier and thus blocked the possibility of merging with their own waters. The only thing that Lake Sasyk has managed to do is to keep the connection with the neighboring Dzhanshey Lake, thanks to which all water bodies of the Black Sea region are a single eco-system with the possibility of exchange of flora and fauna.
Special climatic conditions, low population of the region and unique biofund allowed ecologists to fix the status of valuable wetlands, places of settlement and nesting of birds for the coastal zone and Sasyk Lake itself. Thanks to conservationists, the area was included in the notorious Ramsar Convention, an international protection document dedicated to a single ecosystem (habitat). In this case, in Iran, the document was signed to preserve waterfowl habitats. By the way, what kind of birds are found in the plains of Lake Sasyk? Bewick’s swan and little cormorant, gray goose and white heron, common spoonbill, white-tailed eagle and white-cheeked tern.
The length of the sandy spit or spit of sand, as it is called in the Black Sea region, separating the lake from the sea, is equal to 15 km. In the last century a concreted highway was laid along it. Wild tourists settle on one side of the highway — the one «overlooking» the sea. They come here mostly by car, live in headscarves and enjoy communicating with almost virgin nature and resting with a minimum number of neighbors and undeveloped infrastructure.
On the other side of the highway — on the shore of Lake Sasyk, there are bases of fishing brigades and hunting farms. Depending on the season, those wishing to do so can buy fishing tickets or the right to shoot waterfowl.
By the way, the same highway connects the fashionable resort Katranka (Tatarbunarsky district) with the village Primorsky (Kilisky district) and further on — to Vilkovo, to the Danube Flats and Romania. And if vacation in Primorskoe allows the tourist to enjoy the recreational advantages of Lake Sasyk and the Black Sea, the general list of attractions of the Black Sea region is expanded by the colorfulness of a dozen national communities, several fortifications and many unique churches of the late Middle Ages.