Pictures from Mongolia

[Rinchinlhumbe]

An attempt to show you an uncommon place in the very middle of Asia far away from the temperate sea.

In contrast to its image, Mongolia has more to show than endless, plain, treeless steppe


(panoramio)

some crystal clear lakes and untouched forests in the north where wolves and elks strive

(panoramio)

glacier wrapped peaks

(panoramio)

and - of course - the Gobi desert with its sand dunes

(panoramio)



(pbase)

If you find these pictures interesting you should come around again soon to see some more pictures.

[gabo79]

wow awesome pics more please thaks

[Jan Del Castillo]

Awesome photos!! Good thread. Regards.

[Denicka]

Really great pictures!

[Rinchinlhumbe]

we start in the south of Mongolia in Umnugovi province. Umnugovi is the souterhnmost province of Mongolia, right next to the Chinese border


(wikipedia)

It has some more records to offer: the driest and hottest province (only minus 10 - 15 degrees C in winter!). The biggest comprising half the size as Germany or Poland and as big as Florida or Wisconsin.

It is also the least densely populated with less than 50.000 inhabitants.
And it may become the richest in the future: beneath the soil the worlds largest copper deposit was found, exploration is to start soon.

Needless to say it is a harsh and remote place but hosts some of Mongolia's main tourist attractions.
So many people take the long way of 600 km along bumpy roads to visit this desert region.


(panoramio)

The dunes shown above in the first thread are the Khongoryn Els ("Singing Sand Dunes")






(flickr)

They measure 180 km in length and are 12 km wide in average.





(www.geu.de)

Some dunes reach heights of over 100 meters.






But there are even bigger areas covered with vdunes in Mongolia which extend up to 300 km in length.





These dunes are overshadowed by the Altai mountain range




(panoramio)

[Marathaman]

Astonishing place! Its so beautiful, and yet so hostile to life.

[add1t]

wow
that glacier wrapped peaks are awesome
hope I can be there some day
nice photograph btw

[IllyaDe]

Beautiful nature

[Rinchinlhumbe]

Originally Posted by Marathaman

Astonishing place! Its so beautiful, and yet so hostile to life.

it is indeed, although the low humidity makes it tolerable and the winter temperatures are not as low as in Northern parts of country where the mercury can drop down to -40 to -50 degrees

I#ll put up some more photos later

[Rinchinlhumbe]

Today's trip gonna take us to Khentii Aimag, named after the epitomous mountain range, which is located just east of Ulaanbaatar.


(doncroner.com)


(doncroner.com)

The aimag is about as big with Austria and inhabits 70.000 people.

(wikipedia)

Much of the province is covered by the dense taiga forest.


(doncroner.com)

Major tourist sites include the are northeast just to the Russian border, which is the cradle of the Mongolian nation. The Burkhan Khaldun mountain is believed to be Genghis Khans birthplace.


www.suuder.com.


(doncroner.com)

It is said that Genghis Khan bathed in this river


(panoramio)

The Khentii mountain range is the lowest of the big four in Mongolia (Altia, Khangai, Khovsgol and Khentii)


(flickr)


The highest peak reaches an altitude of 2800 meters. The region is so remote that I couldn't manage to find a photo of it in the internet. But at least some of the Hagin Har Nuur lake nearby.








(panoramio)

These photos were taken in late May...




(flickr)

Of course, the province offers great hiking, fishing, and rafting, but the locations for this are somehow difficult to access as no roads leads in the completely uninhabitated wilderness


(doncroner.com)



a shamanist "ovoo", worshipping site for travellers

(flickr)

Well, quite big contrast to the photos I posted before, isn't it? Both were actually taken in the same country.

[HKG]

Its so beautiful!!!!
Thanks for sharing!

[Doggo]

BRAVO!!! Great pics. Thanks and keep the pics coming please!

[The-E-Vid]

nice landscapes!

[marino354]

NICE PICKSINCREDIBLE CONTRASTS

[Rinchinlhumbe]

Thanks for your comments. So let's continue. Next pics arer from Khovd Aimag in Western Mongolia. Ethnic Mongolians only share a minority of the population, while there are a lot of other ethnicities wearing colurful clothes, among them Kazakhs with muslim belief.

One major sights are the Tsenkherin caves with stone age cave drawings. In Summer 2008 the aimag witnessed a total solar eclipse.


(wiki)

The aimag is very far away from the capital and getting there by bus or jeep takes about 3-4 days. Nevertheless it's quite woth a visit for its canyonlands, oasis and snow covered peaks rising from the surrounding stark deserts.

The landscape is quite varied with a lot of peaks...

(flickr)

and more smoothe structurs, where glaciers rounded the terrain

(krohnphotos)

Tsambagarav Uul at the border to Ulgii aimag, 4193 meters


Tsetseg Nuur (Flower Lake) near Sutai Uul (4090 meters)

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Buyant River. The rivers coming from the mountain tops never reach the sea but end up somewhere in the desert.





(krohn-photos)

There is still a lot more to come from this region but I do not want to crash your browser...so that's it for today

[Jan Del Castillo]

I love The Khentii Mountain. Regards.

[Mariscalito]

Wow... great pictures!!!

[jeromine]

Wow man its really very very beautiful pictures its very very nice,,,,,,,,,,,

[CityOfAngels]

Awesome photos!!

[Rinchinlhumbe]

the next journey leads into Uvs aimag which is located in the extreme northeast of Mongolia near Russia



It is roughly as big as South Carolina or Bavaria and is home of 100.000 people one third of them living in the aimag center Ulaangom - a megalopolis for Mongolian standards.

The aimag is roughly located on the same latitude as Winnipeg, Vancouver and Frankfurt or Plymouth respectively. And it is extreme - as it has all forms of vegetations you can find on this latitude from glaciers to desert.

We start on the very bottom at Khyargas Lake.


(www.geu.de)

Khyargas Lake is located 1100 meters above sea level



..and surrounded by flat arid desert steppe.
(panoramio)