The Gobi
What you'll be looking at
South · Route 03 · 8 days
Not the empty sand sea people expect. A desert of grass and gravel and sudden cliffs — with dunes that sing, ice that survives July, and the bones of dinosaurs in the red rock.
The route
This is the route where the truck earns its keep. We drive south out of Ulaanbaatar onto gravel and grass, then string together the three things everyone comes for and the dozen they didn't know about: the Yolyn Am ice canyon in the Gurvan Saikhan mountains, the great Khongor dunes you climb on foot, and the red Bayanzag cliffs where the first dinosaur eggs were found.
Nights are camel-herders' ger camps under the hardest stars you'll ever see. The Gobi is where the silence gets into people.
Day by day
Leave Ulaanbaatar after breakfast and drive south onto the open gravel. First night at the granite outcrops of Baga Gazriin Chuluu.
The "white stupa" — a wall of eroded sediment cliffs that glow at low sun. A long driving day with a big payoff at the end of it.
Into the Gurvan Saikhan mountains to a narrow gorge that holds a sheet of ice deep into summer. A walk up the canyon between the rock walls.
Arrive at Khongor — dunes up to 300 metres that boom when the sand slides. Climb one at sunset for the view back over the oasis green.
Ride Bactrian camels along the foot of the dunes with the family who keeps them, and slow down for a day in one place.
The red sandstone where Roy Chapman Andrews found the first known dinosaur eggs in 1923. Sunset turns the whole formation to fire.
The ruins of a monastery destroyed in the 1930s, on a river bend in the middle of nowhere. Begin the turn back north.
The last long haul north onto the tarmac and back to the city. We drop you at your hotel by evening.
The Gobi
What's included
Not included (you pay on-site): flights, food and meals, accommodation — Anji arranges ger-hotels along the way — and entrance fees for parks and museums.
Pack for the Gobi
Pricing
Price on request
Tell us your group size, dates and preferred starting point. Anji will send a complete quote with every inclusion and local cost explained before you commit.
No deposit to book.
Pay in cash — 50% when we meet, 50% on the last day back in Ulaanbaatar.
June–September departures
Share your flight window and preferred month. We agree exact dates around your group, road conditions and the route you choose.