The island’s top left-hand corner offers unspoilt coast untouristy towns and a wild ‘donkey’ island Even a decade ago when I was first checking out Sardinia’s glorious coast crowds and costly parking at La Pelosa put me off it is a sad victim of its own success and a million social media posts Would-be beachgoers hunch over their phones at 8am when online sales open Porto Ferro has miles of west-facing amber sands Photograph: Faabi/Getty ImagesWilder Porto Ferro has well over a mile of west-facing amber sands perfect for a sunset swim and picnic has a wealth of preferable bathing spots – Le Saline on the east side but the main reason to go is to leave it again – on a boat to coastal Sardinia’s wildest destination the mountainous “donkey” island of Asinara 10 miles long and just a few hundred metres wide in parts it is now a national park and marine reserve with one permanent inhabitant – guard turned sculptor Enrico Mereu North-west Sardinia has dozens of lovely beaches most of them not only free but relatively crowd-freeWith one ferry a day from Stintino and three from Porto Torres further south there is little chance of Asinara feeling busy and though there are many rules (no private cars A bay on the island’s east coast is off limits even to walkers But this means we get to enjoy – from the main track – the rare sight of a beach as it might have looked a thousand years ago with no people and untrampled vegetation growing to the sand’s edge The island may have only one human inhabitant grey donkeys with punky manes and all kinds of birds – red-legged stilts We are excited to also see a flurry of stripy wild boar piglets fond of snacking on the eggs of ground-nesting birds Driving north, he points out a family of Asinara’s emblematic albino donkeys, the mum showing a foal how to rub its head in dust to keep the sun off (lacking melanin, they are prone to skin cancers). Further on, the turtle rescue centre (open 15 May-30 Sept) has displays about the harm fishing and other human activities do to loggerheads convalescents Emma and Silvestro wait stoically for release back into the sea Prisoner accommodation on the island Photograph: Jordi Boixareu/AlamyBetween 1885 and 1997 animals shared this beautiful island with various unhappy and/or undesirable humans and in the 1970s had a high-security jail that held mafia bosses (Strong currents mean it is virtually impossible to escape from Asinara.) A dozen former prison buildings dot the terrain – some now ruined Less-dangerous prisoners worked on the land and their former quarters in the “agricultural colony” can be visited It’s an attractive building with a vast courtyard – it would make a fine boutique hotel – but displays inside of tools possessions and scary medical instruments tell a different story: crowded dormitories sudden violence and hard labour in the cruel sun Relishing our happier lot, we buy cold drinks and filled focaccia at the nearby Sognasinara cooperative (which has hostel beds in the former warders’ barracks) and head for the beach We walk five minutes more and find a sandy horseshoe cove It even has a shaded table and benches for our picnic I resist posting pictures of its oh so Instagrammable vivid blue and turquoise waters featured trips and local tips for your next break as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays To be handy for the 9.30am ferry, we stayed in a B&B on the “mainland”. Villa Li Curiazzi (doubles from €190) is a gorgeous spot that happens to be walking distance from La Pelosa – though who’d bother when the five-room villa has its own little white beach and encouraging recycling into five wicker baskets in a corner of the sea-view breakfast/living room It’s also a good place to dip into more ancient Sardinia and though no written records have been discovered they left mysterious cone-shaped towers (the Palmavera complex near Alghero is worth visiting) standing stones and burial chambers – rough contemporaries of Stonehenge Many of these sites are in remote spots and visited only by history buffs but Sennori has a domus de janas – the dialect word for rock-cut tomb it means “fairy house” – in the former priest’s garden near the 14th-century church We ring a number on the locked gate and a smiling woman from a nearby bar comes to open up we crawl into the first of about 10 linked chambers noting the bull reliefs carved on a dividing wall and think of human lives lived here 7,000 years ago and bodies returned to the embrace of Mother Earth lies a coastal area that actively wants more tourists not fewerSardinia has applied for Unesco listing for 35 Nuragic sites but there is so little tourist accommodation here that old houses are being offered for €1 to anyone who will live there and run it as a B&B For now the place to stay is Hotel Bajaloglia a fairytale walled town once accessible only by sea cathedral and a long basketweaving tradition with creamy sand and clear waters especially good for snorkelling The Bajaloglia’s rooms and pool are dotted over a rocky outcrop and its restaurant serves probably the best pasta I’ve ever eaten – tagliolini cacio e pepe with lime and slivers of squid After leaving Sennori we drive 10 minutes to the beach Marina di Sorso isn’t as postcard-pretty as La Pelosa on a curve of pale gold sand stretching miles in both directions glad no one could ever sell tickets for seaside on this scale who is also the BDP Maun North parliamentary candidate is spearheading a multi Million Pula project in which Matlapana Community seeks to build its own Satellite Police station Elias has explained was motivated by the government’s call for individuals to adopt a police station the construction works is expected to involve every community member from Matlapana area including surrounding and catchment areas such as Disana Elias chairs the fundraising committee that was recently appointed to source funds from the corporate community towards construction “This Police Post will help relief Maun Police station which is servicing a very large population and is overwhelmed by workload,” said Elias adding that the police station will help reduce crime and shorten police respond time at times of need including in road accidents and emergency calls The landboard has already allocated a plot for this project near Matlapana traffic circle The council has also drawn a modern architect plan for this project “It will have private rooms where people go in and report their cases privately without prying ears A lot of detail and extra care has gone into the plan,”explained Elias According to Elias the committee has made an agreement with Builder’s Mart so that donations in cash are deposited directly into the project’s account “We are not going to take any cash in hand all the monies have to be deposited directly into the Project’s account Maybe in future we may involve other Building Material shops it is Buildre’s Mart that we have an agreement with.” He further explained that the committee took an initiative to fundraise for a police station after realising that the government has no plans to build a police station in their area in the near future and that they had to find ways to make it happen rather than wait for government to do it for them Kgosi Tshupegetso Bontsibokae has also spoken highly of the project saying it will make a big change in his community “We as Matlapana Community came together and discussed this in unison We approached Botswana Police Services and they understood where we were coming from and embraced the idea They are onboard and are helping greatly in ensuring we do the right thing,” explained the Chief Kgosi Bontsibokae further noted that his community has adopted a concept used in the 1980s when the University of Botswana was built through “Motho le Motho Kgomo.” “We have agreed that each family will make a contribution towards this project in any way they can,” added Bontsibokae Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "ab14c2cfa785abedd2dfdc0616734fd9" );document.getElementById("aad51f3427").setAttribute( "id" and website in this browser for the next time I comment The Voice is a print and online newspaper based in Botswana founded in Francistown in 1993 as The Francistowner Extra in 1999 it opened offices in the national capital