The Badain Jaran Desert can be found in western Inner Mongolia. The desert covers 49,000 square kilometers spanning the provinces of Gansu and Ningxia in China as well as Inner Mongolia. It is the fourth largest desert in the world roughly 150 kilometers north of the Hexi corridor.

It is home to the largest dunes on earth, the highest of which tower over 450 meters tall and stretch over 5 km in length. The dunes are kept in place in the arid, windy region by an underground water source. Analyses of the ground water indicate that it is snowmelt that flows through fractured rock from mountains hundreds of kilometers away.

In addition to its megadunes, the Badain Jaran also boasts roughly 140 spring fed-lakes that reside in the interspaces of its giant megadunes, some of which are fresh while others are extremely saline, creating one of the most captivating desert landscapes in the world. It is not a “Waterless place”, from these lakes that the Badain Jaran has derived its name, which means "mysterious lake" in the local Mongolian dialect.

Booming Sand

It is thelargest “booming” sand area in the world. By sliding down the sand dune, one can hear the sand booming like the tolling of a huge bell or the beating of a big drum. In the evening, the strong winds make the sand slide down the dune slope, producing booming by itself.

A Live Desert

The Badain Jaran is not a “sea of death”. It is a live desert. In the heart of the desert, Buddhist monastery, which once housed 80 monks, is built along the lake in 1755. Mongolian herdsmen with camels are living amid the big dunes that intersperse with spring-fed lakes. All are rare examples of a complete self-purification and harmony between lakes and sand dunes, the life of Mongolian herdsmen and their camels.