We drove from Ulaanbaatar to the immense Gobi desert. It’s a distance of almost 800 kilometres made more difficult because of the last 100 kilometres, through dirt roads, with some gravel and sand.
The Khongoryn Els are the big sand dunes in the Gobi desert, though sand dunes only cover 5% of the whole desert. The biggest part of it is steppe, with a few mountains and some grassland. These are the lands of nomadic herders who live in this inhospitable region with their families. They live in gers and are always happy to welcome guests into their homes.
Here, the most common animal is the camel, the goat – such as the famous cashmere goat – and the Mongolian horse, one of the oldest breeds of horses that outnumber the country’s human population.
But arriving at the Gobi is not easy. There is a lot of off-road, with some gravel and some sand and a lot of washboard. Sometimes also storms and even sandstorms. Although it was exhausting, the beautiful Gobi desert is… all worth it!
