Mongolia

Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park extends on one hundred kilometres (62,14 miles) in the province of Ömnögovi and houses a part of the Gobi-Altai range. It was created in 1993, but only in 2000 it reached its actual size. Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park covers 27000 hectares, which implies that it’s the largest protected area of the country. Its name comes from the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains, ”the three beautiful”, the three highest peaks of the Gobi-Altai range: Baruun Saikhan, ”the beautiful Westerner” ; Dund Saikhan, ”the beautiful Central” ; Züün Saikhan, the ”beautiful Easterner”. The highest of these three peaks is the beautiful Easterner that reaches 2846 metres at his highest point. Here we can discover Yoliin Am canyon.

The park includes rocky and sandy desert areas. The most famous are the Khongor dunes. There we can see many rocky formations, dried up basins, salt-water rivers, sources, and oasis. More than 620 species of endemic plants from Central Asia grow there. The park also houses many animals: Mongolian gazelles, goitered gazelles, onagers, Siberian ibex, mouflons, argalis, wild goats, and the very discreet snow leopard. In total, 52 species of mammals are registered in this area, among which eight are protected species.

The park is easily accessible from Dalanzadgad, the capital of the province that has daily flights from and to Ulan Bator.