Elafonisos
By Dimitris Tsatsaronis
Nikos Kriaras
Mihalis Karapatakis
6th grade students.
Elafonisos is a protected area, which is located in the south-eastern edge of Crete island, 72,4 km away from the city of Chania and 30,1 km south from Kissamos city, just between Chrisoskalitissa village and Crios promontory. It is comprised of the islet Elafonisi, another very small islet and the opposite shore. The islet is a small oblong shaped island, which has 1600m lengths and 150-400m widths. Its total area is approximately 50 ha. The eastern part of the islet is rather flat and sandy, while its north and western sides are rocky. Its maximum altitude is 39m and is joined to opposite shore with a shallow strait that doesn't exceed 1m-depth meaning that anyone can reach either side just by walking. The most impressive characteristic of the area is the pink colour of the sand, giving an imaginary scene. The colour stems from calcareous fragments of animal origin. 
Northern of the beach is laid the convent of Virgin Mary Chrisoskalitissa (gold stairs in Greek) built in a huge rock. The convent was named after “Chrisoskalitissa” because one of the stairs that lead to the church is said to be gold. The Virgin's icon is a sacred shrine that is said (by a legend) to go back about 1000 years. The whole region is a delight to the visitors' eyes. If somebody stays late in the afternoon he will relish a marvelous sunset.
The church that we see today was built in 1894. In 1900 the convent closed down and its property was sold out, nevertheless the nouns never stopped lighting the church's candle. The whole area is of great environmental, historical and archaeological importance. Author Kostis Papageorgiou characterizes the area as one of the last remained earthly paradisiacal places of our planet.
Threats
The palm forest, south of Chrisoskalitissa convent, the sand-dunes with the junipers, which are two of the first priority ecotypes, are seriously threatened today. The first are damaged by the fires that local villagers put on in order two administrate their graze, and the later by the tourist activity during summer. It is noteworthy that 2000 visitors per day flood the region during summer months. Therefore, junipers are continually being cut, burnt and trimmed. 
Apart from that the entire flora and fauna is significantly threatened by uncontrollable grazing. Furthermore, under the perspective of the construction of two water tanks, greenhouses have been starting to function, posing another danger for the ecotype due to the excessive use of pesticides, fertilizers and plastic material. Finally, the opposite shore is under territorial claim by individuals, a fact that caused troubles for the integration of the area into the European network “natura 2000”. Fortunately the issue was confronted promptly by local environmental organizations.