It is a short ferry ride across the Curonian Lagoon, from Klaipeda to Curonian Spit, the most extraordinary landscape in Lithuania. This is a peninsula which stretches in a narrow arch from Klaipeda to Russia’s Kalinigrad, over ninety eight kilometres off the coast.

The lagoon side is sheltered, and therefore, calm and covered with reeds. This is where a nature conservation area begins which became a World Natural Heritage Site in the year 2000.

Alexander Von Humboldt described this natural phenomenon as one of the strangest and most beautiful coastal regions in Europe. In the northern part there are pine and birch forests, exceptional plants and flowers, and where an elk may suddenly appear. But the ecological balance of the peninsula is fragile, since centuries ago deforestation was carried out on a large scale.

Further south the interplay of forest, meadow and sand can also be seen. In particular the island side of the lagoon prevented desertification. Here, the Parnidden Dune is a good example: on one side, forest to the edge of the dune and, on the other, sand to the coast.

Spit is ninety eight kilometres long and three hundred and eighty metres wide at its narrowest point. It separates the lagoon from the Baltic Sea.

Man almost irreversibly destroyed this paradise by his irresponsible actions and it almost became a desert. However, this natural world has been saved just in time.