life, upside down: Mongolia

The red rock canyons of Khermen Tsav and the tugay oasis

Leaving Naran Dats, we drove deeper into the Gobi Desert and did not see another person, vehicle, or domesticated animal along the way. (The only animals we did see were gazelles, running and perfectly camouflaged against the desert scrub. It was sparse.)

Driving across the Gobi

Trying to photograph running gazelles with a zoom lens in a moving van is an
extremely difficult venture (if you look closely on the left you juuuust might
be able to make out a couple white spots as they raced away.)

It's hard to imagine water rushing through these massive gullies, or that the seemingly
flat desert could have such a divide running through it to find passage through

As we drove, navigating huge washed out gullies that carved huge swatches in the desert, slowly some rocks emerged out of mountains of gravel and sand. Khermen Tsav is on the other side, our guide told us. Our driver wanted to try try to drive up and over, but it could be too steep for our van, in which case we would have to go around (maybe a further 40-60 minutes drive.) So we headed up the hill: but it was too sandy and the old Soviet era van didn't have four-wheel drive. We stopped about halfway up and walked up to get a good view, the wind whipping sand against the buffs covering our faces. It was very different from the sand dunes of Khongor Els, much coarser sand and mixed with small rocks. After we had walked to the top of a small crest, we took some photos then returned to the van and continued on our way.

Cliffs emerging out of mountains of gravel and sand

Driving up the sand dune

Heading back down

We drove around the mountains, following the 'road' as enormous red rock formations and cliffs began to appear. We finally passed a sign marking "Khermen Tsav" and we knew we had arrived.

Khermen Tsav is sometimes called the "Grand Canyon of Mongolia", and it was even more spectacular than I could have imagined it would be. It was also really hot: we arrived before midday but only walked around a little bit before the heat became too much. We settled in the shade under a grove of shrubs and some trees (which was the most surprising of all: trees in the middle of the desert!) for some lunch. The sun was blazing and it was too hot, so we read in the shade for a couple hours until it we were ready to walk around. I should also say our party of four was absolutely alone in this enormous, incredible area. There was evidence of other tourists who had come here: tire tracks through the wide canyons and over the gravel hills, remnants of camp fires and a bit of rubbish. (We were not going to have a camp fire, our guide informed us. A fire in the dark attracts an insect which is poisonous! So no fire for us that night.)

The cliffs at the edge of the canyon - looking out into the desert,
with the formation of Khermen Tsav behind us

Perfect diagonal layered stripes

From what I have read, it Khermen Tsav is part of the Barun Goyot Formation which dates to the Late Cretaceous Period. There is little information available on Khermen Tsav in English, and is further difficult to look up because Khermen is alternately written "Khermeen" or "Hermen" and Tsav also written "Tsaw". Regardless of knowing the geology behind it, it was absolutely amazing - stunning. I couldn't pare down the photo count for this entry, despite attempts! We set off with the camera and two litres of water, walking through amazing rock formations, over sandy plateaus, and what I have now learned is called a "tugay" - a habitat of grasses, shrubs and trees in the floodplain in an arid area. There were a few desert poplar trees, zag and a lot of tamarisk salt cedar: all blooming tiny, purple flowers. It was so incredibly beautiful. At one point we sat down in the shade of some zag trees and a crow -- perhaps seeing some movement in an otherwise still landscape -- flew by to investigate the travelers.

As the sun fell lower in the sky, the rocks glowed a brilliant orange. It was a beautiful sunset, and we were in for a treat: it was a full moon that night and we watched the moon rise over the rocks. We took a short walk in the moonlight before going to bed that night -- it was so bright you could almost read a book by it.

The next morning we packed up camp and drove out along the ridge, looking down into the canyons. It was absolutely incredible -- of course we had only covered a tiny fraction of the area on foot the day before, and the canyons stretch for miles and miles. It was a bit sad to be driving away, and eventually the rocks disappeared behind us. It was definitely an unforgettable place!