Stretching from the southern Khovd aimag to the Dariganga region in Sukhbaatar, the Gobi covers a third of Mongolia. Fossil finds have recealed that the Gobi basin was once part of large inland sea. The word "Gobi" simply means `desert` in the Mongolian language.
The Gobi is a land of extremes: decent rain does not falls really often. it can be well over 40`C during the summer, and below -40`C in winter. And storm of dust and sand are fearsome in spring.
The Gobi is understandably very sparsely populated, but the desolate landscape is home to gazelle, khulan (wild ass), Bactrian two-humped camels, takhi (the Mongolian wild horse), rare saiga antelope and the world's only desert bears- the Gobi bear, og which there are only 25 left in the world. Here are some of the most attractive destinations in the Gobi desert.

Yol Valley

The Yol Valley, a protected site in 1965, is 62 kilometres north-west of Dalanzadgad. Yol valley was originally established to conserve the birdlife in the region, but it's now more famouse for it's dramatic and very unusual scenery- it is a valley in the middle of the Gobi desert, with metres-thick ice for most of the year.
The small museum at the gate on the main road to Yol valley has a collection of dinosaur eggs and bones, stuffed birds and snow leopard.

Khongor Sand Dunes