Gobi Desert

The Gobi has been crossed by people and livestock for thousands of years, and its edges were part of the trade and migration routes linking China with the steppe. Herding of camels, goats, sheep and horses remains the backbone of rural life, with families moving between seasonal pastures and wells.

In the 1920s, expeditions led by Roy Chapman Andrews of the American Museum of Natural History made the Mongolian Gobi famous among scientists, most notably for the first recognised non-avian dinosaur eggs found at the Flaming Cliffs in 1923. Palaeontological work has continued ever since, and large parts of the region are now protected, including Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park and the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Areas.

Gobi families live in gers and move with their animals, and hospitality to passing travellers is a long tradition. If you are invited into a ger, accept tea or milk with your right hand (or both hands), avoid stepping on the threshold, do not point your feet at the stove or the family altar, and move clockwise inside. Camels provide milk, wool and transport, and fermented camel milk is offered in some households. Much of the population is Buddhist; halal food is not generally available outside Ulaanbaatar, so Muslim travellers should arrange vegetarian or specific meals with their tour operator in advance.