Dundgovi province
Tsagaan Suvarga
A scarp in Ulziit soum, 30 metres high and 100 metres wide. The sheer east-facing slope looks, from a distance, like the ruins of an ancient city.
Southern Mongolia
The Gobi
Desert.
Not the desert you're picturing. The Gobi is a mix of low hills and wide steppe, large dunes, high mountain ranges and rivers — and one of the great fossil grounds of the world.
910–1,520mPlateau altitude — part of why it stays cold
194mmRain in an average year
−40 / 45°CWinter low to summer high
6 daysTo cover the highlights properly
A cold desert with ice in its gorges.
The Gobi gets frost and occasionally snow on its dunes. It sits well north for a desert and on a plateau roughly 910 to 1,520 metres up, which keeps temperatures low — and in some gorges you will still find ice in the middle of summer.
Around 194mm of rain falls in a year, with extra moisture arriving in winter as snow blown down from Siberia. The same winds push the range of temperature from −40°C in winter to 45°C in summer. It takes about six days to cover the highlights properly.
What you'll stop for
Middle Gobi
Ongi monastery
The ruins of a monastery on the bank of the Ongiin river — 28 temples and other buildings, once home to about a thousand lamas, destroyed in the Stalinist purges of the 1930s.
Palaeontology
The Flaming Cliffs
Where the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews found the world's first dinosaur eggs and nest. The Gobi is the site of some of the major palaeontological discoveries of the 20th century.
Nomadic life
A herding family's ger
Mongolians are the last nomads in the world. We visit a working family so you can see how they herd, make dairy products and sew traditional clothes — not a performance, a household.
Tours that go here
All tours →
When to come
Group departures run March to October.
March brings the camel festival. May and September are the sweet spots — sunny, green or gold, and far quieter than the Naadam weeks in July. Winter trips run privately on any dates.
Where you'll sleep
Tourist ger campTraditional gers with full facilities — solar power at 220V, showers and bathrooms. Every camp we use is one we've checked ourselves.
Nomadic family gerA ger pitched beside a herding family. The closest you get to their life; fewer facilities than a camp.
CampingWhere there are no camps or hotels. Good tents, mattresses, a sheltered shower — and an expedition chef when the group is over six.
Tell us how long you have.
Tell us your dates and how long you have. We'll shape a route around them, or point you at the group departure that fits.
