The Gobi is not empty. It is sparse, which is a different thing, and it rewards anyone willing to spend the day looking properly.
Most Gobi itineraries treat wildlife as scenery encountered between landmarks. This one inverts that: the gravel plains, the spring-fed gorges and the dune margins are the destinations, and the landmarks are what you pass on the way.
Gobi Gurvansaikhan is one of the largest protected areas in Mongolia, and the species that define it — khulan, black-tailed gazelle, ibex, lammergeier — are wary animals in vast country. We plan for distance, early starts and long, patient stops.
A desert expedition built around the animals rather than the photo stops, with the pace and the driving hours that honesty about the Gobi requires.
Desert wildlife watched properly, with the time and the distances that actually finding it takes.
Ger camps throughout, with one or two nights of mobile camping where the route calls for it
Travellers who understand that remote wildlife means long drives, early mornings and no guarantees, and who would rather spend two hours at one waterhole than tick off five stops.
Met on arrival and transferred into the city. Afternoon briefing on the route, the species, the driving distances and the realities of Gobi weather in your travel month.
A short domestic flight replaces two days of driving. Met at the airstrip and into Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, with the afternoon spent on the approach plains — often the first khulan of the trip.
Into the gorge the Mongolians named for the lammergeier. Ibex work the walls above, wallcreepers move on the rock, and in early summer the ice in the base of the canyon has not yet gone. On foot for most of the day.
A long driving day west, and the best khulan country of the journey. Asiatic wild ass move in herds across open gravel and will not tolerate a close approach; this is a day for the scope, for stopping early and for waiting.
Through saxaul forest, which holds more life than it appears to, and on to the dunes. Afternoon with a camel-herding family whose winter and summer camps sit at the dune margin.
Up before light for the dune ridge, then the spring-fed valley behind the sand, where the water draws birds all day. Optional Bactrian camel riding in the late afternoon.
Back east to the Flaming Cliffs, where the first dinosaur eggs known to science were found in the 1920s. Late afternoon light on the escarpment, and an evening that is usually the quietest of the trip.
A final morning on the plains before returning to the airstrip and flying north to Ulaanbaatar. Evening free in the city.
Transfer to the airport.
Where you sleep is chosen for the route. Some nights are the best room for hundreds of kilometres; some are a tent beneath a sky with nothing else under it, which is its own kind of luxury.
Where this journey stays somewhere we book by name, here it is. The nights not listed here are ger camps, herder households or our own tents, described below.
Ulaanbaatar
The city's largest hotel, a short walk from Sükhbaatar Square.
Ulaanbaatar
One hundred metres from Sükhbaatar Square — the closest good hotel to the centre.
South Gobi
Sixty-two kilometres out of Dalanzadgad, the Gurvansaikhan range on the skyline.
Permanent seasonal camps with beds, bedding and a wood or dung stove. Facilities vary by region: the better camps have private shower blocks and reliable hot water, remote ones have neither. We will tell you which is which before you book.
Staying in a working household, sharing the family ger or a guest ger beside it. Simple, warm, and the reason most travellers remember a journey. Washing is basic and the space is shared.
Our own mobile camp where no fixed accommodation exists. Proper sleeping mats, a mess tent, a cook and a toilet tent. Carried in and carried out, leaving nothing.
In Ulaanbaatar and provincial centres. City nights are booked at the standard you ask for, and we will tell you what to expect where a provincial hotel is a simpler place.
Every journey is priced for your dates, party size and choice of accommodation, and confirmed in writing in your proposal. This is a private journey, so the vehicle, driver, guide and camp staff are the same whether two of you travel or six, and the per-person price falls as your party grows.
The price also moves with season, domestic airfares and any specialist staff your route calls for. Single travellers and anyone wanting sole occupancy should ask about the supplement.
Confirmed in writing at proposal stage. Anything not listed here is not assumed to be included. Booking terms →
Warm days and cold nights, with the year’s heaviest rain falling as short afternoon storms in July. Pack for a wide daily range rather than for one temperature, and for sun on open steppe.
Hire the bulky, expensive items rather than buying them for one trip; bring your own base layers. Equipment hire → · What the month is like →
A private journey can usually be moved a grade in either direction by adjusting pace and distance. How we grade a journey → · Choosing your month →
Adjust the pace, accommodation, specialist access and regional extensions around your interests.
Plan a private itineraryThe experiences that give the route its character.
Waiting, at distance, with the scope.
Movement on the gorge wall.
The quietest nights of the journey.