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Southern Mongolia - The Gobi Dessert Region One of Mongolia's most popular sites of the Gobi Desert: habitat to some of the world's rarest animals and a unique landscape. Many envision the gobi as a place of unbearable heat and lifeless dunes, similar to the inhospitable Sahara desert, but in reality the desert and semi-desert ecosystem is quite vivacious. The gobi consist of high mountains, springs, forests, sands, Steppes and a rich animal population . Occupying 30 per cent of the country vast territory and stretching from the east to the west through southern Mongolian, the Gobi shelters 52 mammal species, 15 kinds of reptile, 1 type of amphibian and 106 differ¬ent varieties of birds. The desert also contains over 400 species of plants, including many valuable medicinal and decorative plants. It is numerous rare animal include argali sheep, ibex, snow leopard, lynx, wild ass, gazelles saiga, wild Bactrian camel and Gobi bear, just to name a few.
Dalanzadgad town Distance: 553 kilometers from UB Duration: 1 hour and 20 minutes by air. Accommodation: Hotels the center of South Gobi (Om¬nogobi Aimag, Dalanzadgad can act as a starting point for trips to numerous destinations in the southern Gobi Desert, including Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park, Eagle valley, the Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs, the Hongor Els Sand Dunes, and Borzongiin Gobi in Mongolia's southern tip, where people can find themselves among herds of hundreds of wild ass and black-tailed gazelle. Dalanzadgad also has a mu¬seum where samples of local flora and fauna are displayed and basic hotel ac¬commodations.
Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park Distance: 40 kilometers to the southeastern edge from the town of Dalanzadgad Duration: 1 hour by road from Dalanzadgad Accommodation: Ger camps Activities: Camping, desert expe¬ditions, camel riding, mountain climb¬ing, paleontology, wildlife viewing Situated to the west of Dalanza¬dgad, Gobi Gurvan Saikhan Park en¬compasses a series of ridges and val¬leys that make up the eastern end of the Gobi Altai Mountains. Its name means "three beauties of the Gobi, which refers somewhat ironically to four great ridges that it incorporates: Zuulun, Sevrei, Gilbent, and Nemegt. Surrounded by low plains, the park's mountains rise to 2200-2600 meters above sea level. Gobi Gurvansaikhan extends for more than 380 kilometers from west to east and posses a varied landscape of rocky and sandy desert plains, pre¬cipitous cliffs and ravines, salt pans and oases. The Park has the greatest diversity of plant and animal life in the Gobi Altai, with over 620 species of flowering plants and all 52 species of the Gobi s mammals. Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park features some of Mongolia s most popular tourist destinations, including the picturesque gorge of Eagle Val¬ley and the Singing Sands, a spec-tacular sea of sand dunes bordered by red sandstone formations, an oasis and a "forest" of saxaul bushes. Nemegt, Hermen Tsav and the Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs, the sites of many im¬portant dinosaur fossil discoveries, also lie within the park's boundaries.
The Eagle Valley Distance: 45 kilometers from Dalanzadgad Duration: 1 hour by road from Dalanzadgad or Tuvshin Tourist Camp Accommodation: Ger camps Activities: camping, mountain climbing, hiking, wildlife viewing One of the best-known travel destinations in the Southern Gobi is Yoliin Am Canyon, also known as Eagle Valley {yoliin actually means lammergeier, one of the most endan¬gered bird of prey species). Nestled between ridges of Zuun Saikhan Uul Mountain—part of the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park—small river flow through the valley. Sheltered by high cliff walls on both sid4s of the canyon, thick ice gorges remain frozen even on summer’s hottest days.
Bayanzag – The Flaming Cliffs Distance: 65 kilometers from tuvshin and Juulchin Gobi tourist camps Duration: 1 and half I hours by road from the tourist camps Accommodation: Ger camps Activities: desert expeditions, camping, hiking, paleontology. First hailed as the Flaming cliffs in 1920 by Roy Chapman Andrews, famous American explorer and paleontologist, the site looks like fire in the middle of the desert from a distance. The area holds an amazing number of dinosaur fossils. Complete skeletons, including the one-horned protoceritops and the egg thieving oviraptor , as well as numerous eggs, have been excavated from ravines in the Flaming Cliffs.
Khongoriin Els Sand Dunes Distance: 200 kilometers from Dalanzadgad Duration: 4-5 hours by road from Dalanzadgad Accommodation: Ger camps Activities: Desert expeditions, camping, camel riding The Hongor Els Sand danes, Mongolia's largest area of dunes, stretch for 180 kilometers. Bordered at its northern edge by the bank of the hongoriin River, some of the dunes.
Dinosaur Dilemma Considered one of the world's greatest sources f fossils, Mongolia’s Gobi Desert afford a treasure trove of various dinosaur specimens. Fossils from at least 40 different species of dinosaurs have been found in the country, including raptors, lumbering plant eaters, and massive carnivores. In Ulaanbaatar you can see an entire Tarbsosaurus (a cousin of the T-Rex), the famous 'fighting dinosaurs’ (a Protoceratops and a Veleciraptor perfectly preserved in a deadly embrace), rare dino eggs, and the remains of many other creatures at the Natural History Museum. Of course the city isn't the only place you can see fossils. Travelers who spend a few days in this area will almost certainly spot evidence of the ancient beasts; unfortunately, they probably will also see signs of fossil poaching. It is not only a loss to the science," says Dr- Phillip Currie, a professor at the university of Alberta, who studies Fossis in the Gobi. "It's tragic in the sense of the specimens; it's tragic in the sense of ultimately developing tourism in the area, and it's tragic in the loss of material for Mongolia. Illegal removal of these prehistoric skeletons occurs all too regularly in the country, and many fossils are destroyed when their "valuable" parts (mainly teeth or claws) are carelessly extracted. Unlike Specimens excavated by licensed expeditions which can travel to museums or research centers abroad, but remain possessions of Mongolia—poached fossils usually find their way into private collections that are inaccessible to the public. Protecting Mongolia's dinosaur wealth is a challenge that local authorities and scientist have tried to address, but with limited results. Education is going to go a much longer way toward solving the problem, Currie said. We can have our influence as foreign scientists, but in the long run it really has to be a solution coming from within the country. Individual rather than government action may Play the greatest role in combating poaching and promoting respect for the nation's fossils. One Mongolian women who has taken undertaken the task of dino£aur education is Paleontologist Dr Bolortselseg Minjin. In november 2007 Bolortsetseg, who received her Ph.D. from CUNY and the American Museum of Natural History, established the Institute for the study of Mongolian Dinosaurs; its goal is to inform Mongolians, especially the institute for dinosaurs and what they have to offer. The interst exists, but it hasn't been encouraged , Bolortsetseg said. We haven’t been using as a tool to get kinds excited about science. That is what my institution wants to do.
Dzungarian Gobi Distance: 1400 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar, 340 kilometers from the town of Hovel, in the northwest of Hovel Aimag Duration: 10-14 hours by road from Hovd Accommodation: camping Activities: desert expeditions, wildlife viewing, hiking, photography and video-graphy tours The Dzungarian Gobi features small mountain ranges and massifs broken by wide valleys, rolling plains, outwashes and hummocks. Greater precipitation than in most parts of the Gobi permit more vegetation to grow here, and sand covers very little of the region. The highest mountain of the Great Gobi Protected Area, Mt Atas, stands at 2695 meters above sea level in the Dzungarian Gobi, providing important habitat for the worlds largest remaining herds of wild ass ( equus hemionus), as well as herds of black tailed gazelle (Gazelle subgutturosa). It was once a last refuge for I the words only remaining truly wild horse, the Takhi (Equm Przewalskit), which has now been reintroduced to two areas of Mongolia from Western zoos,
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