Climbing the Singing Dunes

Through sandstorms and past furry camels, desolate landscape finally gives way to a backbone of sand dunes, the Khongoryn Els, covering an area of more than 900 square kilometres.

Location: 43°43'60" N and 102°19'59" EMaximum height of dunes: 2,500 feet (800 m)Elevation of Gobi Desert: 1,580 m above sea level

To climb to the top of the sand dunes takes about an hour, to an hour and a half.

There’s no one-way to climb. Experience would say stick to the ridges, and take off your shoes, but whichever you can scramble up will work. It’s generally two steps up, one step back. Exhausted, red-faced and breathless, once you reach the top you’ll have the most incredible views of the Gobi, and aching muscles for the rest of the week. From the summit you can walk along the ridge more easily than the climb. Take your time at the top, and then run or slide down to the song of the sand whistling a solid G sharp note in the wind.

To get into the Gobi, you’ll need to hire a driver and a jeep from Dalanzadgad Omnogov aimag, and drive 180kms into the Gurvan Saikhan National Park (27,000 squared kilometres). You can organise guides in advance through tourism offices in Ulaanbaatar, or directly with our guide Bolor: oyunbolor75@yahoo.com

The desert is unforgiving and the only road signs are empty bottles of Chinngis Vodka sporadically thrown from car windows, but if your guides are chatty you’ll be distracted with legends of dragons and ghost riders.

Accommodation in the Gobi is basic. You’ll be staying in a ger (a Mongolian yurt: felt circular tent) with no showers, bathroom facilities or kitchens. They are basic: bed frames and thin mattresses, a stove in the middle for burning camel dung. We brought our own sleeping bags, and camel wool blankets were provided. Temperatures drop dramatically at night, so remember to pack warm gear, and wear a beanie to bed. It’s freezing.

Nomadic families move from season to season, so while the gers were close to the foot of the dunes while we went, they're not there all year round. Camels to tend to wander where they like. During tourist season it should be simple to hire a camel from a local family, if you’d prefer to ride a camel along the dunes.