Gobi Desert

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Get away from it all and enjoy horseback riding and hiking the scenic landscapes of Mongolia.

11 days, from £1672 (Private tour). IExplore »

Asia's largest desert, the Gobi, is a cold one, with temperatures dropping as low at -40C in winter. Given this, it would be easy enough to believe the tale that the land was rendered arid and dead by a curse which came from the lips of a Mongolian dark sorcerer as he was forced out of his town by the Chinese army. However, it is a region of grassland and mountains as well as sand, with some areas of complete dryness but for the summer monsoon, and some more populated, semi-desert areas with higher rainfall where cultivation possible. The more habitable areas play host to rare creatures such as the snow leopard and the Gobi bear. The first fossilised dinosaur eggs were found here and it is still a paleontologist's dream as well as a place of largely unspoiled beauty.

3 / 5 Review by editor larapiegeler