Bayanzag, Mongolia - travel experience, post, guide, blog and photos

Mongolia: Bayanzag, Kharakhorum, Khongar Sand Dunes, Khustai National Park, Ongi, Ulaanbaatar, Yol Valley

Bayanzag, Mongolia: And Dinosaurs laid their eggs
by Prakash Bang, Editor in Chief

Another 5-hour drive through rough roads got us to Bayanzag. We checked in at Mongol Gobi Ger Camp. The camp is ideally located, just a 10-minute drive from the famous Flaming Cliffs - which we visited later in the evening. Being summer time, the sunset happened only after 8:30 in the evening - giving us enough time to visit the rocks when it's less hot.

Child at Flaming Cliffs, Bayanzag, Mongolia

The Flaming Cliffs site, also known as Bayanzag, is a region of the Gobi Desert in the Omnogovi Province of Mongolia, in which important fossil finds have been made. It was given this name by American palaeontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, who visited in the 1920s. The area is most famous for yielding the first discovery of dinosaur eggs. Other finds in the area include specimens of Velociraptor and eutherian mammals. The red or orange colour of the sandstone cliffs, especially at sunset, hence the nickname - Flaming Cliffs.

For two hours or so, we explored the cliffs. Our guide's local friend was kind enough to lead us to a location where some egg shells were quite visible. Of course, it is strictly prohibited to take home the fossils without proper permissions.

After sunset, it was back to our gers.

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