The Mongolian Outback: Day 4 - Khongoryn Els

Today we headed to the Khongoryn Els section of the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park. Along the route we stopped at an out of the way place where Toya and Bayaná made lunch. The land out here isn’t exactly owned by anyone, but there is some sense of usage claim. It appears that the family that had been using this valley area for their livestock didn’t like the cars driving up it so they started telling people (like our van) that we couldn’t pass any further in car, but could do so on foot. 

As you can see there weren’t many options for shade so we hiked a bit and made the most of it. We may have found an animal part or two.

We continued on by car and arrived at the Khongoryn Els sand dunes, also known as the “Singing Sands” from the sound they make when the sand is moved by the wind. There we would explore by camelback. I’d always wanted to do that, and these camels were special.

The Bactrian camel is the two humped version endemic to central asia. It’s credited with enabling the Silk Road caravans and widely regarded as the best pack animal in the world, able to carry up to 550 lbs at 30 miles per day for four days. It is the largest living breed of camel, can weigh up to 2,200 pounds, and grows a shaggy coat for the winter which it quickly sheds for the summer. These suckers can drink up to 57 liters (15 gallons) at one time and are part of a small group of animals that can regularly eats snow for its water needs. Not tough enough for you yet? They even save and control their eggs. Females ovulate UPON insemination. You read correctly, the two humped camel can get pregnant by a single hump at any time. The pregnancy rate actually 87% of the time. Wow!

So, with all that knowledge, we decided to ride these bad boys for a couple of hours. The camels were largely docile, but they were SO big that you couldn’t help but feel intimidated by any movement the made.

After the camel ride, we learned that people would sometimes hike up the dunes, look at the vista, and ride down in a plastic sled. The largest dune is reportedly 980 feet (30 meters and 98 stories). People seemed to be hiking the largest or one of the largest ones. Soledad and Toya decided to stay back with Vicente, but Milagro decided she wanted to try to climb it. It took us an hour to reach the top. Walking was tough as the sand moved with each step. Above the midway point the sand was so soft and steep that it made it’s “singing sound” every time we made a step. But, Milagro made it. I was so proud of her for persisting to the top. It was not easy.

The view from the top was spectacular. The ride down in flat sled was fun too. Milagro was able to keep a medium pace down the dune. I got going so fast that I was worried I’d crash into her so I started braking with my feet. That caused a ton of sand to kick up into my face. Blinded I crashed quickly, but unscathed. Good fun. Near Milagro, we both slid down the rest of the dune together. We had sand in our hair for a few days. 

 
We slept the night in a ger at the base of the dunes.