Mongolia the land where many dinosaurs once roamed, where its Gobi desert is mostly not sandy, and yet you can ride a camel up to one of the largest sand dunes in the world, a desert where you can find thick ice all year round. Join me in this nomadic journey to diverse landscapes where you will get to live in ger, stargaze in the desert, camel ride in the dunes, and roam the largest desert in Asia.
Riding camel on Khongor Sand Dunes
Highlights
- Walk the land of Dinosaurs, Bayanzag, famous for its first discovery of dinosaur eggs
- Discover Gobi Desert the largest Asian desert, the 5th largest in the world, UNESCO called it the world’s largest “fossil reservoir.”
- Explore Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, the second-largest protected area in Mongolia
- Explore Yol valley, famous for its dramatic and very unusual scenery, though it also has ice that is meters thick all year around
- Climb the Khongor Sand Dunes also known as the Singing Sands, the largest sandy areas of Mongolia
- Climb a 1750m high basalt and granite rock formation, Baga Gazryn Chuluu
- Explore Tsagaan Suvarga a dried up seabed from millions of years ago
- Sleep in traditional Ger and spend time with Nomadic Family
- Ride a camel up the largest sand dunes
Ger on the grassland
Gobi Desert is the largest Asian desert, the 5th largest in the world. The desert stretches out in two countries, one to southern part Mongolia and another to north and western of China. The desert holds a very important historical place, the great Mongolian Empire, part of the Silk Route. Surprisingly most of the desert is free of sand, only 5% of the desert is covered by sand dunes. We will be visiting Khongor Sand Dunes, Baga Gazryn Chuluu, Tsagaan Suvarga, Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, Yol valley, Bayanzag, and a secret mountain all in the Gobi Desert.
Domesticated camels in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park
The park is the largest of Mongolia’s national parks and the second-largest protected area in Mongolia. A Land of contrast its iconic sand dunes, ice canyon and stunning mountain vistas, gravel and rubble plains, salt wetlands, dry valleys, springs and oases. Surprisingly, despite the barren landscape and hostile climate, the Gobi Gurvansaikhan provides a home to a wealth of wildlife.
Bayanzag, known as the Flaming Cliffs
Bayanzag
Bayanzag in the early morning
The Flaming Cliffs that glows with a fiery red light that mimic the radiance of the setting sun. This area is most famous for the first discovery of dinosaur eggs. Walk on land where dinosaurs once roamed.
Tsagaan Suvarga
Tsagaan Suvarga a dried up seabed from millions of years ago, also known as White Stupa, these rocky formations eroded by the wind look like a ruined city from a distance. This is considered to be largest site of Rock drawings in Central Asia.
Gobi Desert.
Enjoying a sunset view after a climb of Khongor Sand Dunes
Khongor Sand Dunes also known as the Singing Sands, the largest sandy areas of Mongolia, dunes reaching breathtaking heights of between 100 and 300 metres, more than 180 km long and can reach 27 kilometres wide. The dunes continually change shape due to wind and reflect yellow-white colours as the intensity of light changes during the day. This area is also very rich in dinosaurs’ fossils. Riding the camels across the majestic sand dunes.
Yol valley
One of the natural secret of Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park and its beautiful deep canyon and rocky cliffs famous for its dramatic and very unusual scenery. Yol valley is in the middle of the Gobi Desert with meters thick ice almost all year around. Although the sun shines a lot in this region, the canyon remains dark, so that in the bottom, a part of the river remains nearly all year long covered by a thick layer of ice.
Baga Gazryn Chuluu
A 1750m high basalt and granite rock formation is beautifully located in the middle of a vast steppe. This rock mountain contains the ruins of a Buddhist meditation temple that dates back to the 17th century.
