Mongolia - Bactrian camels and fetching underground water in the Gobi desert

11 Jun 2018  -  Day time temp 30°C, Elevation 1,200m

It's a fun day for us today as we made our way to the Flaming Cliffs of Mongolia.

We were entertained by hundreds of Gobi desert double hump camels as we drove towards Mandal-Ovoo. Some still had their full winter coats on. Others are in various stages of shedding their thick coats.

The camels roaming the Gobi desert are the Bactrian Camels. These camels have two humps, unlike the Arabian camels or Dromedary Camel which have just one.

There are three surviving species of camel. 

The one-humped Dromedary camel makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up the remainder. The Wild Bactrian camel is a separate species and is now critically endangered (Source: Wikipedia).

These camels we see today are domesticated Bactrian Camels. They are large. An adult camel is almost 2 metres high. 

Camels drink water like a sponge. A very thirsty one can drink 30 gallons (that's more than 100 litres) in just 13 minutes! (Source: National Geographic)

 Apparently it is rare to see a white camel. So, I guess we were lucky to come across this one, looking straight at us.

Here's a video of a herd of thirsty Bactrian camels. running towards a water source.

Today we also encountered a mini tornado in the distance.

In the Gobi desert, underground water is an important and probably only source of water. We came across a few man made wells along the way. We stopped as this one to have a look. This well is deep and the water is clean and cool. We took the chance to collect some underground water to top up our  water reserve.

Late in the evening, we stopped to camp 100m off the dirt track. ending the day with a  a fiery  display of  desert sunset in the Gobi desert.

A very slow day covering a distance of 35 km only, 50 km to the Flaming Cliffs....our first desert landscape attraction.
Our Sorento parked for the night in the Middle Gobi Desert