Sardinian sand – a harmless souvenir?

Imagine lying on one of Sardinia's beautiful beaches. The sand is white and soft like powdered sugar, the turquoise blue sea glistens in front of you in the bright sunshine, and the grey everyday life with its worries and obligations is far away. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could capture this perfect moment forever?

But even the most wonderful holiday inevitably comes to an end at some point. If you can't move your home to the beach, you can at least take a piece of the beach home with you, some people think, and quickly bag a little sugar sand to sweeten the wait for the next holiday on your desk or shelf at home. It's no big deal, after all, it's everywhere, like the proverbial sand on the beach. Right?

Far from it. Sand thieves in Sardinia are in for a nasty surprise at the airport when they leave, because luggage is specifically screened for sand and smugglers of the white (or yellow or pink) powder have faced heavy fines (between £500 and £3,000) since June 2017. The sand is confiscated and, if possible, returned to its place of origin. Contrary to what most people assume, sand is not an inexhaustible resource, and the sand-collecting frenzy of even a fraction of the 1.8 million tourists who visit the island each year leaves clear traces over time and damages the sensitive ecosystem. This is especially true since many holidaymakers do not stop at small quantities, but carry away the sand by the bottle or sackful. Two to three tonnes of sand are seized annually at Elmas Airport. It is therefore not surprising that some beaches have already become visibly smaller. Some have even been closed to holidaymakers in order to counteract the loss of sand.

The loss of sand is all the more painful because Sardinia has very special sands that cannot be found anywhere else. The beach at Is Arutas is a veritable treasure trove of nature; here you can walk on quartz grains the size of rice grains that shimmer in white, pink, green or amber. Because the colourful, round stones are so seductively beautiful, bathers are often checked for contraband when leaving the beach. Cala Goloritzè, with its snow-white pebble beach, is also strictly protected. The unique pink coral sand on the island of Budelli is world-famous, arousing much covetousness and therefore requiring a park ranger who lives on the island all year round to guard it. Numerous other beaches attract visitors with snow-white sand reminiscent of the Caribbean, but this too has been deposited here over thousands of years and its reserves are not inexhaustible.

So if you really love your holiday island, act according to the motto ‘Take only pictures and leave only footprints’. So that the beach where you enjoyed such wonderful moments will still be there next year – in Sardinia, where it belongs.

With a Sardinian ‘Adiosu’, I bid you farewell for today.

Yours, Joachim Waßmann