Mongolia - Stuck in the desert sand at Bayandalai

Once we left the Yolin-Am junction, we were back on good paved road, driving 40km west to  Bayandalai

VIPs crossing.....

Mongolia's Ice Canyon - Yolin Am

An ice field in the middle of the Gobi desert?

Located in the mountains of Gurkhan Saikhan in Mongolia's southern province of Omnogovi, Yolin Am is a long and narrow gorge that becomes an ice field each winter.

Sometimes known as the Gobi Glacier, the ice field can be several metres thick and about 2km long. Some parts of the gorge are so narrow that the sun does not reach the bottom of the gorge easily or long enough to melt the ice. Hence, in the past, the ice formed in the gorge at winter can remain all year long.
Of late, the ice tend to disappear as early as August.

Mongolia - Could not quite get to Yolin-Am and a trip to Dalanzadgad instead

Location: Near Gobi Bear. Temp about 20oC. Altitude ~2,000m. 

We left our campsite near the Gobi Bear to head towards Yolin-Am.

Sacred stone altar / shrine known locally as Ovoo near the Gobi Bear camp.

Wild life we encountered in Mongolia.

   
White-tailed gazelles spotted on the way to Flaming Cliff on 13 Jun 2018 at 6.45pm

Sparrow at Yolin-Am Ice Fields

Mouse at Yolin-Am Ice Fields. (15 June 2018)

Mouse near Yolin-Am (very common... seen often early in the morning and when the sun sets.. this photo is taken on 14 June 2018)

Chukar Partridge under the shade on the rocky hillside near Yolin-Am.
Spotted on 14 June 2018. There was two of them.

Another white-tailed gazelle.. this time near Yolin-Am (14 Jun 2018, 4.05pm)

Black-tailed or Goitered gazelles.
Spotted several large groups of them along the dirt track from Bayandalai to Sevrei at around 11.40am on 16 Jun 2018. Some of them crossed the dirt track and we managed to get some photos of them. Most of the groups were further away.

Mongolia's Flaming Cliffs

Mongolia's Omnogovi province is home to several interesting sights, one of which is the Flaming Cliffs.

Located about 95km Northwest of Dalanzadgad and close to Bulgan village, this place is known locally as Bayanzag. 

Our Sorento next to the signboard for Burgan, Omno-govi Province.

Bayanzag is the local name for the thorny saxaul shrubs that can grow up to two metres high around this area. On our way to the Flaming Cliffs, we passed a herd of Bactrian Camels grazing on the saxaul shrubs. The shrubs we see today are mostly knee high.

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.