The Gobi Desert: Realm of the Two Humped Bactrian Camel

Our driver (left) & guide going around the Ovoo. Its a
custom to go around it three times and give offerings.

A salt lake on the way

My first recollection of the Gobi desert was while reading about the great deserts of the world in my geography text books. The Gobi always seemed odd because it was a cold desert and had a strange name (which means cabbage in my native tongue). It was also intriguing since it was the home of the unique Two-humped Bactrian camel and it sort of stuck out there in the middle of a continent. As far as I hypothesized, all the world’s great deserts lay to the west of the continent but this one sat bang in the middle.

The tiny box in the middle of the frame is our russian van. This is the place we had lunch the first day

A Molgol with his horse

The amazingly camouflaged Tuva Toad-Head Agama

Getting there is not easy as it’s far from Ulaanbaatar and additionally, there is very little public transport that goes in that direction not helped by Mongolia being the least densely populated country in the world. If getting into Gobi was easier, then the more difficult part was visiting the places of interest as they lie in national parks far flung from human settlement which meant that a 4WD had to be hired along with a driver who knew these places. I had the option of flying to the provincial capital of Dalanzadgad but hiring a 4WD and a knowledgeable driver from there was not a certainty.

Gobi sand beetle

The best possible option was to get on a tour organized from Ulaanbaatar and I was lucky in that regards as I was able to get on one as soon as I got to UB and had really nice companions to boot. Our team was made of a Polish (Ola), a Brit (Helen) and an American (Eric) plus a Guide (Michka), a Driver (Kambaatar) and me. Inside our Russian van, three seats were forward facing and two were backwards. Since it was four of us and only three good seats, one of us had to rotate sitting on the crappy seats. Eric led the way by taking that seat for the first day.

Above: Stopping for lunch on Gobi's rocky plains
Right: Mongol nomads bringing down a Bactrian camel to shave it's fur

Day One was pretty much all driving from the central steppes of the Töv aimag through the semi-desert Dundgobi (Middle Gobi) aimag stopping only for lunch where Michka flipped open her laptop gas stoves and cooked some tasty pasta. Contrary to popular belief Gobi is not predominantly sandy; instead it ranges from semi-desert steppe to arid rocky plains. It does have a few treeless rugged mountains but for the most part is flat and empty which made the journey slightly mundane after a few hours. Sharing travel stories between my travel companions and the bumpy ride was pretty much what kept me from dozing off for most of the journey.

Clean shaven Bactrian camels....not as impressive looking without their winter fur

Precious water

Had to shared my dinner with it!

By evening we arrived at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu which is a collection of picturesque granite hills where we stayed for the night. Just as we neared a small group of gers that we stayed in for the night, a group of Mongolian nomads were trying to catch their domesticated Bactrian camels so they could shave its fur. It was quite interesting to see how they bring these big, strong and unwilling animals down. The fur is used to make the inner lining of the gers to keep it warm during the harsh winter of the Gobi where the temperatures can drop to –40°C. Gobi is extremely cold due to a unique combination of it being the northern most desert and being located at a higher altitude (910–1,520 meters above sea level). My post visit research confirmed my belief that Gobi was a desert because of the Himalayas lying in its rain shadow. Below is a video I took of the nomads bringing down the camel and shaving its fur.

Day Two we continued south passing the town of Dalanzadgad where we stopped for some supplies (chocolates to keep us interested through the journey). The town although in the middle of the desert seemed as though it was thriving which could possibly be due to the mining activities in and around it. By early evening we were close to the Gurvan Saikhan (Three Beauties) National Park but spent the night at a family ger beside a dried stream bed and surrounded by pretty rolling hills. The sun set around 9:30pm with traces of light lingering till almost 11pm which meant we had ample time to wander around and take in the pretty settings. Its no wonder June-August is the best time to visit Mongolia not just because of the ample daylight but the weather is also mild.

Our ger the second night close to the Gurvan Saikhan National Park

Road leading out of the Gurvan Saikhan mountains

Kids selling rocks

Yolyn Am's ice field

Day Three was exciting as we entered Yolyn Am (Valley of the Vultures) which is a deep and narrow canyon in the rocky Gurvan Saikhan Mountains. This place is unique as it harbors an ice field for most of the year even though it’s smack in the middle of a desert.

Walking through the valley I tired to keep an eye out towards the jagged peaks incase I was lucky enough to witness a snow leopard or two (realistically I was hoping more for a sighting of the Argali which is a type of wild sheep). As we walked out of the mountains onto the plains we came across a nomad family shaving their goats and sheep for fur. I tired my hand at tending the cattle to keep them concentrated in a group but a few smart ones escaped my corralling effort

Above: Khongoryn Els
Right Top: Our ger for the night at the Khongoryn Els
Right Bottom: Gobi nomads shaving the fur of their cattle

A few more hours driving south-west and we could see small dunes of sand cropping up on our left. We had to drive a further two hours across the length of the Khongoryn Els sand dunes to reach the northern tip of the dunes where our ger camp was located and where the highest dunes were located.

Climbing to the highest sand dune to watch the sun set

Atop the dunes

Although every desert has sand dunes, there was more to this place that just sand and the panoramic view it gave was simply stunning. In the foreground were seemingly out of place grassy meadows watered by underground springs where grazed Bactrian camels and horses; immediately behind it was a layer of smooth curvy yellow sand dunes some of which are as high as 240 meters; behind it was a slightly brownish-grey shade of the rocky Gurvan Saikhan mountains and all of this against the backdrop of blue skies splattered with a few white clouds.

We played Frisbee for a while and it was refreshing since the only action we had gotten for the past two and half days was sitting as the van drove us through the Gobi. Our guide wanted us to climb the dunes the next day…or at least that’s what she thought. Too bad she did not know we had other plans:)

This picture gives a little prespective of the size of the dunes

Initially hesitant to climb all the way to the top as I did not want to spoil the next day’s climb I could not resist the temptation as I saw Eric, Ola and Helen all heading there as the sun started to dive. This was the first time I have climbed up a high sand dune and it was way harder than what I had imagined. Sometimes we hit a stretch of loose sand and it seemed as though every step we took was futile as the sand below the feet simply crumbled and we were further back than where we started. As we got closer to the peak it became progressively tougher as the sand became more loose and the ascent more vertical with nothing to grip on to.

Above: Jumping around on the Khongoryn Els sand dunes
Right Top: The Saxual forest of Bayanzag
Right Bottom: A little relative of Bayanzag's dinosaur

After about an hour we finally we made it to the top and the view from the top was simply stunning and easily 100x worth the climb to get there. The pictures here do scant justice to the actual scene. Going downhill was one of the most fun things I have done in Mongolia as the steep drop is tempered by the foot sinking knee high into the sand. It almost felt therapeutic!

Time to chill

Gers are Bayanzag

We retuned back to the ger camp to see our guide pretty miffed since we left without informing her. In our defense we tried to tell her but upon not seeing her, asked the driver to pass the message which the driver obviously did not…regardless I found the whole situation rather funny.

Next morning Eric and I returned back to climb the dunes since we had not had enough of it and though only slightly little less spectacular than the sunset, the view was markedly different due to the angle and intensity of the sun which gave the dunes a different color and shade. Eric and I were click happy with our cameras.

Flaming cliffs of Bayanzag

After returning back it was time for a quick ride on the camels before starting on the journey northeast toward the flaming cliffs of Bayanzag where the world famous dinosaur fossil eggs were first discovered. We did not get there in a hurry though as it took another whole day of driving to get there. The name of this place is derived from the Saxaul tree that grows in this region which is locally called Zag.

Mongolian Gazelle sprinting away

As had become the custom, we wandered around in the long evening hours finally to settle on the soft sands between the Saxaul forest to have some screwdrivers with original Mongolian vodka.

The next day we walked on the flaming cliffs which were weathered red sandstone cliffs and pretty much the epicenter of the dinosaur finds. Although this region is still believed to have lots of fossils of dinosaurs, we did not see any :)

Though they can run, they are not as fast as the gazelles

After than it was pretty much a day and a half of driving back to Ulaanbaatar stopping overnight in a town in the middle of nowhere to sleep for the night. The highlight of the day was seeing Mongolian gazelles (also called as White Tailed Gazelle) although they we too shy and too swift for me to get a good snap. If I am not mistaken these gazelles were depicted on the Great Plains episode of the Planet Earth documentary.

As Ulaanbaatar neared I could sense our 6 day eventful journey in the Gobi was nearing its end as the brown rocky plains gave way to green meadowlands. Back in UB, it was time get a shower and shave after 6 days and some nice pizza!