Gobi Desert, China and Mongolia

In 1922, American palaeontologist Roy Chapman Andrews found the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered in the orange-red cliffs of Bayanzag in the Mongolian Gobi. He called them the Flaming Cliffs. The eggs were Protoceratops. The discovery changed the understanding of dinosaur reproduction. Chapman Andrews is considered a partial inspiration for Indiana Jones, which gives the Mongolian Gobi a specific place in the popular imagination as well as in palaeontological history.

The Gobi covers approximately 1.3 million square kilometres across southern Mongolia and northern China. It is not a single landscape: sand dunes, rocky plains, saxaul forests, seasonal rivers, and mountain ranges exist within its boundaries. Most of what visitors picture – the Khongoryn Els dunes, the Flaming Cliffs, the ice-filled valleys – is on the Mongolian side. The Chinese Gobi, accessed through Gansu Province and Dunhuang, is a different kind of trip: easier logistics, Silk Road heritage, and the Mogao Caves.

The Mongolian Gobi

Travel in the Mongolian Gobi is inherently an expedition. There is no significant road network in the desert interior. Travel is by 4WD (usually Russian Furgon vans) across tracks that follow GPS waypoints rather than tarmac. You navigate through nomadic settlements and sleep in ger camps or wild camp. A local guide and driver are necessary for any visitor who doesn’t speak Mongolian.

Khongoryn Els (singing sands) is Mongolia’s largest dune field: about 100 kilometres long and up to 800 metres high. In windy conditions, the movement of sand grains produces a low rumbling sound – the “singing” origin. The scale is disorienting in the specific way that very large natural things are when you’re standing inside them rather than looking at a photograph.

Yolyn Am (Eagle Valley) in the Gurvan Saikhan National Park is a narrow gorge cold enough that ice accumulates year-round in the shaded sections. In summer, the contrast between the surrounding desert heat and the ice in the valley floor is startling.

Gateway: fly from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad (daily flights, approximately $80-120 USD, 2 hours). From there, all travel requires a rented 4WD with driver-guide. A 5-7 day Gobi circuit costs approximately $120-200 USD per person per day all-inclusive. Best months: May-June and September-October.

The Chinese Gobi: Dunhuang

Dunhuang in Gansu Province sits at the western end of the Silk Road’s Hexi Corridor. The Mogao Caves (Thousand Buddha Grottoes), carved into a cliff face from the 4th to 14th centuries CE, contain 492 preserved cave temples with murals spanning a thousand years of Buddhist artistic development. The murals survived because of the desert’s extreme dryness. The standard ticket (approximately $238 CNY for foreigners) allows access to 8 caves on a guided group tour; additional “special caves” require advance booking through e-dunhuang.com. Photography is not permitted inside the caves. The collection is the most significant repository of Buddhist art in the world.

Mingsha Shan (Singing Sand Mountain) is the dune field outside Dunhuang with the famous Crescent Moon Spring (Yueyaquan) at its base, photographed for 2,000 years. Entrance and commercial apparatus are substantial; the dune itself is spectacular and the sunrise and sunset light is genuinely extraordinary.

Getting to Dunhuang: high-speed rail from Lanzhou (5 hours) or flights from Beijing and Xi’an to Dunhuang Airport (DNH).

Connecting Both Sides

The Trans-Mongolian Railway (Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, 30 hours) passes through the Gobi and is a good way to connect both countries if time allows. The border crossings available to independent tourists between Mongolia and China are limited – plan carefully and check current requirements.