Polish adventurer Mateusz Waligora has successfully crossed the Mongolian Gobi Desert alone. In August 2018, Waligora set off from Bulgan in Khovd Province, located in western Mongolia near the border with China. His trip was to cover only the Mongolian part of the largest desert in Asia. The Chinese part is larger, but getting permission for its passage is almost impossible. In addition, it is more urbanized.

To reach the desert part of the Mongolian Gobi (since Gobi also consists of steppes and semi deserts), he had to hike through the mountains of Gobi Altai. It required him to pull a specially prepared hand-cart for the trip, to travel through the passes at heights exceeding 2,000 m above sea level. On the trolley, he transported all the food, equipment and water needed for his survival. His equipment consisted of a tent, down jacket and warm underwear – because at night the temperatures dropped below -10 degrees Celsius. He needed to carry water – because during the trip there were several days without a well on the route. When temperatures during the day exceeded 35 degrees Celsius, Waligóra drank more than 10 liters per day. Sometimes the cart had 90 liters of water on it, making a total load of over 200 kg to pull behind him.

In the Gobi, it had been the driest year since measurements have been recorded. But right after the drought, heavy rainstorms and floods hit Mongolia. After the hardships of the Gobi Altai, Waligóra entered the desert. There, the sandstorms became a threat, but he was able to survive them, often by sheltering in his tent. In the second part of the expedition, he had a problem with the inner tubes in the tires on the wheels of his cart. Near the end of the expedition, he had to patch and glue them every few hours to keep going. Several spokes on the wheels also broke during the trip, making the successful finish of the trip rather risky!

On 15 October, at approx. 12 noon local time, Mateusz Waligóra arrived at his destination in Sainshand. In 58 days, he had covered 1,785 km on his feet. He is the first Pole to have crossed the Mongolian part of the largest desert of Asia, entirely alone! (explorers web)