The great Mongolian Gobi has high mountains, some forested areas, sands, steppes and rich fauna. The Gobi covers 30 percent of the country’s vast territory stretching from east to the west through the southern part of Mongolia.

The Gobi is not a single, uniform entity – there are no less than different types of Gobi in Mongolia, of which sandy dessert occupies only three percent; high mountain ranges lie within the territory of the Gobi Altai and South Gobi Aimags (provinces).

The Gobi is also a land of extremes: the temperature can soar well over 40 degrees centigrade during the summer and minus 40’c in winter; in the springtime there are often  fearsome dust and sand storms. Climate change is also seriously effecting the region: the very few lakes, such as Orog and Buun Tsagaan are starting to permanently dry up; underground springs, however, still continue to provide vital water. The Gobi is very sparsely populated, but the desolate landscape is home to the gazelle, Khulan wild ass and the Gobi Bear (ursus arctos), of which an estimated 20 animals remain.

The Gobi is also famous for its fossil remains. It was here that in 1923. the Roy Chapman Andrew’s expedition discovered the first-known dinosaur eggs and just over 20 years later, in 1946, a joint Soviet-Mongolian team of paleontologists discovered the remains of the first Tarbosaurus, meaning   ‘alarming lizard’. These remains date back to the Late Cretaceous – around 70 million years ago, when the climate was different and the Gobi, was full of vegetation and rivers.