Sunday, 17 June 2018

Mongolia - Sevrei and our drive across the Khongoriin Els / Sand Dunes

Woke up just before 9am this morning. Elevation 1,500m above sea level. Temperature in the morning was a cool 22°C but will soon go up.

We were 26km southeast of Sevrei Village and the plan for today was to get to the Khongoriin Els / Khongoriin Sand Dunes.

Sevrei is a district in the Omnogovi province of Mongolia. The village of Sevrei, though small, has a new fuel station at the edge of the village and several wind turbines taking advantage of the strong winds. There is a small mini market where we bought drinking water, bread and juice. It was Sunday and the day was getting hotter. The village was quiet with a couple of kids walking to the mini market to get some ice cream. We found a spot to make lunch and spent sometime to call home.





26km to Sevrei Village



19km more to Sevrei



At the entrance to Sevrei Village



At the entrance to Sevrei Village



A welcome signboard



Our Sorento at Sevrei District



A memorial in the distance



The dirt track to Sevrei village



Sevrei Village







Wind turbines at Sevrei Village



A new fuel station at Sevrei. We bought 45 ltrs of fuel and the lady was also nice enough to give us about 5 ltrs of washing water.

We left Sevrei village at 2.40pm and made our way north towards Khongoriin Els.



Driving out of Sevrei Village. Khongoriin Els in the distance.



Our route crossing the Khongor Sand Dunes.



The imposing Khongor sand dunes. After getting stuck in the sandy area outside of Bayandalai the day before, we were a little nervous about crossing the sand dunes.



The Khongoriin Els stretches for 130km long, about 20km wide and 80m high.



Somewhere in the middle, a river cuts (no water this time of the year) through the sand dunes making it passable for vehicles.

At 4.20pm we are near the point where we were to drive across the sand dunes and decided to stop and rest our Sorento. Elevation was about 1,480m and temperature was up at 37.5°C. A few minutes after stopping, a police car stopped nearby. The policeman came over to see if we needed help but we mentioned that we were just resting and that we were on our way across the sand dunes. As luck would have it, he too was going through the dunes, which meant that we had fresh tracks to guide us as we drove across the sand dunes. After chit chatting a while longer, the policeman left. We stayed on an enjoyed a can of peach as we waited for our Sorento to cool down.

At 5.10pm, we continued our drive. A few minutes later we were at the entrance of the sand dune.



The entrance of the sand dunes.



Here's a video of Our Sorento crossing the Khongoriin Els / Sand Dunes.




Making their way home through the sand storm





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