Coastal sand dunes
17km west of Misrata are what, according to Anthony Ham in the Lonely Planet guide, are "some of the largest coastal sand dunes in the world". In 2007 they didn't look that big. I am told that much of the sand has been used for building materials and that many dunes have been levelled to make way for farmland. There is now only one really big sand dune, which its fun to climb to the top of. The others are covered with scrub, so they are not so photogenic. With the nearby fishing harbour, it makes a pleasant excursion from Misrata, but don't come here expecting massive, golden dunes. I'm not an expert on coastal dunes, but the big dunes at Maspalomas on the south coast of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, for example, are much more impressive.
