Day 3 31.07.2012  Baga Gazrlin Chuluu to Ulaan Suvraga

Set off from the granite boulders on a misty, moisty morning, having packed wet tents and damp packs.  We move our seats around between the trucks for variety.  The roads continue to be challenging for passengers, but more importantly, for our drivers.  They cope with not only slippery tracks but also numerous wash-outs where the ‘road’ simply disappears!  We are surprised by the green of the Gobi…so different to how we remembered it in 2009 when the country was suffering from a protracted drought and a very severe winter when approx. 11 million domestic animals died.

We take time out at Gobi Oasis, a tree propagating program set up in 1978 by a not-so-young couple, with only limited local support.  The aim of this program is to restore indigenous trees to the Gobi area where they can be beneficial.  ‘Eternal Landscapes’ supports program financially – Jess donates something like 200,000TGR each year to help out.  We all plant a tree, dedicating it to something or someone important to us.

Then it’s off along the ‘main road of many roads’ – dubbed by Graeme as The Freeway – you are free to go whichever way you want…and if you don’t see one you like, you take off cross-country!  After kms of horrendous driving conditions, we come to a sudden stop, and Turuu announces, “We stuck!!”  His solution is to take his boots off, roll up his trousers, get out of the truck, AND ENGAGE 4 WHEEL DRIVE!!!  It seems it hasn’t been necessary until now…these guys are awesome!  Our truck is at a fairly precarious angle and Graeme has an ‘up close and personal’ encounter with water just on the other side of his window!  Sandag takes another route without incident.  Power lines are being put through this area and the many large trucks involved in this exercise are responsible for chopping the tracks up…more than one is bogged.

A break at the White Stupa, a magnificent coloured limestone outcrop and sands, some people walk around the base of the cliffs while others soak up the view from the top.

Camp tonight is in the open of the Middle Gobi adjacent to a camel herder camp.  John, aka “D(o)ug”, prepares our toilet in a nearby ‘depression’ some 10cms deep, but protected from view by a “large” tuft of grass…the most private place available.  No room for modesty in the Gobi!! There is a storm close by and we enjoy a great lightning show, but no rain falls on us.  However, just as we get into bed, the Gobi wind kicks in and we are lulled to sleep by sand tickling our tent.  The wind disappears as quickly as it came.

D(o)ug's Loo

Friendly gekko

Lunch

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We stop

Tree planting project