Day 5: Badain Jaran Desert

On our way to the desert

In the morning we had breakfast at our hotel, Alashan Right Banner Shangshiyuan Hotel. The breakfast was part of the package for our one night stay at the hotel. The spread was not a lot but food was pretty decent and sufficient.

We were going into the desert of Badain Jaran to explore and to stay one night. Our guide told us to pack an overnight bag. The desert trip was managed by the desert camp manager. “Gao Fei”  who met us at our hotel and picked up all four of us and our over night bags. Gao Fei would be our “desert guide” for two days. Our ZhangYe guide (Lau Li) and driver would wait in town and meet us again after our desert trip.

On the way to the desert, Gao Fei (desert camp manager) told us to pick up some biscuits, sweets or “finger food” at a local store. Once we were in the desert there would  be no shops. In the middle of the night these food would be useful if we yearned for some “bites”.

After about an hour drive we reached the extrance of Badain Jaran Desert  (巴丹吉林沙漠). After some sort of inspection at the entrance we were let through. Our desert guide stopped our van to let out some air from the truck tires. Apparent to move well on the desert sand the tires must not be too full!

Badain Jaran Desert covered an area of 47,000 square kilometer and was the third largest desert in China (Gobi Desert, Taklamakan Desert, Badain Jaran Desert). It was located in the south-central part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the North of the Hexi corridor (hé xī zǒu láng 河西走廊) in Gansu (gān sù 甘肃).

To visit Badin Jaran tourists needed to have a permit. There were checkpoints where our permits were checked.

First Glimpse of the Desert

Our guide drove us to a dune and encouraged us to go to the summit to have a look. We trekked up the dune slowly, every two steps forward was a step sliding backward. It was tiring to get to the top. At the summit we were rewarded with a lovely view. The distance dunes looked like shiny gentle waves.

At 10 am in the morning the sand, the dunes and their shadows gave off this shimmering shines.

There was not much of a  breeze and yet it was not hot yet. This desert had a “dreamy” quality, it was beautifully vast, endless and quiet.

Badain Lake

At about 10.30am we reached a huge lake. According to the sign board it said “Badain Lake”. This lake was huge and there was a long boardwalk built on one side. It definitely made walking around the lake easy.

The sky was blue with white clouds and the dunes by the lake looked very golden. The lake surface was still and became a mirror reflecting the golden dunes.

On the other side of the lake far away we saw a guesthouse and on another side a sand statue of a warrior. Probably “Genghis Khan”.

Located in the Alashan Plateau in the hyper-arid and temperate desert region of northwestern China, the Badain Jaran Desert was a meeting point for three sandy regions of China and is the country’s third largest desert and second largest drifting desert. This desert stood out with its high density of mega-dunes, intersected with inter-dunal lakes. It was in 2024 that the Badain Jaran Desert — Towers of Sand and Lakes was added to the world natural heritage list.

More Lakes

Our desert guide told us that there were about 144 lakes in the desert. These lakes were known as Haizi (海子) and were mainly located in the south eastern section of the desert.

Due to the strong evaporation, the lake accumulated a lot of salt, and most of the lake water were could not be drunk or irrigated. It was amazing to see lakes sitting at the base of the dunes reflecting the sky.

Then Gao Fei drove us to our first pink lake and we were stunned to see such a beautiful lake. The water was shockingly pink and contrasted vibrantly with golden sand.

Gao Fei brought out his drone and took some photo shots of the pink lake and us from the sky. The top down view of the pink lake looked like a piece of fresh “beef steak” with marbled fat all over!

Checking the internet we found that the pink color was due to presence of haloal aliphilic and coloured microorganisms. These microorganisms thrived in the high salinity and alkalinity of the lake water,  particularly in summer when the water temperature was high and nutrient rich. Formation of pink salt layer on the bottom o fthe lake gave the lakes their pink appearance.

Gao Fei drove  us to another pink lake. This time he took us to the top of a dune so that we could view the lake from the top.  It was a gigantic pink lake and the people at the lake water level was just tiny dots.

Gao Fei then drove down the dune to the pink lake. There we came out to explore. This lake had lesser water and many areas of the lake were dried with a pink salt layer. We had to step carefully on the dried salt  to see the lake up close.

Badain Jaran Desert definitely deserved to be listed under UNESCO World Natural List! Not only it had over 100 of lakes it had pink lakes! These pink lakes were so unique.

We had visited the Sahara Desert in Morocco which was also very beautiful. For a while planning this trip we wondered how different could Badain Jaran Desert be and should we bothered to visit it. But after seeing the dunes and lakes of Badain Jaran Desert we were so absolutely impressed!

Some of the lakes we saw had vegetation around it and there were also “buildings” constructed by the lakes. According to our guide, these were the accommodation of herders and their live stock (camels and sheeps).

Our camp and Dinner

By about 2.30pm, Gao Fei brought us to our camp where we would stay for the night. Our rooms were Mongolian Yurt. When we booked the tour we had specifically requested for good accomodation and was put in a camp that offered Deluxe Yurt.

Though it was only 2.30pm we were already tired and needed a rest and a break. Our ride in the desert was pretty bumpy and shaky and we had to constantly grip “somewhere” tightly to prevent bumping off our seats in the van. Walking on sand was also tricky and tiring. Going up the dunes needed much patience as every two steps forward was a one steps backward.

After four and a half hour exploring the desert (10am to 2.30 pm) we were glad to settle in our rooms and rest.

We were the only customer at the camp so we had the entire dining/kitchen Yurt to ourselves. The camp had a chef and he cooked up a nice meal/dinner for us.

after dinner exploration

After dinner Gao Fei came by and got us to go out with him for some fun. We hoped he would bring us somewhere nice to see sunset. Gao Fei drove us up a dune that overlook the camp. While waiting for the sun to set Gao Fei brought out a red slide and we took turn sliding down the dune. It was fun going down but it was so tiring coming back up dragging the slide.

From the top of the dune we could see the entire town/camp and a huge lake below. We waited for the sun to set unnforturnately the sky was so cloudy so there was no  “golden ball” sun set to be seen.

We had seen a gorgeous and lovely sunset at Sahara Desert the year before and was hoping for a similar sunset. But there were just too many clouds in the sky!

Our stay for night

Our stay for the night was at Badain Jaran Desert Miaohaizi Camp. Our room was a Mongolian Yurt. The Yurt was a modern type, it had tiled floor in the room and an ensuite modern toilet. The aircon was powerful and we certainly enjoyed the cool air in the room.

Other Accommodation