Up early, as usual, and back on the road. Really looking forward to our stay tonight. We’re going to be at a ger camp and our ger will have an en suite!!! Not only that, but they will have a restaurant and a bar, just like home! Although I wll say, here in Mongolia, there is no shortage of vodka. This place runs on vodka. Every grocery store we’ve entered has had at least 20 different brands of vodka for sale. We tried the Chinggis Khaan vodka – it was ok but a little more expensive than the rest. We settled on an XYZ brand that was middle of the road for cost and probably alcohol content as well.

We’re driving south into the Gobi Dalanzadgad area. Entering here there is actually a paved road with a huge entrance gate denoting the beginning of Munugov province. The gate also pays homage to the Bactrian camel’s native to the area, and three statues aptly named, “the Queens of the Gate”.

Dalanzadgad Gate

Awkward pose for a camel

Queens of the Gate

Speaking of camels. Did you know that a Bactrian camel can go without water for months at a time but when water is available, they can drink 57 liters at once. No, not because they have 2 humps filled with water. The humps are full of fat. If they are well fed, the humps will be plump and erect. They go limp and lean if food resources are low. And one final thing, they can live up to 50 years! There you have it.

We made a brief stop at a very nice natural history museum to check out several dinosaur fossils found around this area. The south Gobi was where the famous archaeologist, Roy Chapman Andrews, (not a serial killer-they always have three names) discovered dinosaur eggs leading to the determination that dinosaurs were not warm-blooded mammals. Instead, these creatures were more closely related to reptiles and did not give live birth to their young.

Dino eggs

Dino eggs

Pretty cool museum. There are numerous dinosaur skeletons, some complete, some partial, but a couple really unusual ones. The first was a pair of arms (or upper legs) that are mounted on the wall extending out. These “arms” had massive claws that were about 1 foot long. There have not been any other findings of this dinosaur anywhere in the world! The discovery team in Mongolia named this creature, “Deinochelrus mirificus, or “horrible hand”.

Horrible Hand dinosaur

The claws

The second was a “flock” of Protoceratops fossilized in stone. These are from the late Cretaceous period, around 85-71 million years ago. Discovered in Munugov province in 1994.

Flock of Protoceratops

One other unusual fossil that was found in this area but was purchased by, and now resides in, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, is a fossil of two dinosaurs fighting. Somehow, during a fight between a Protoceratops and a velociraptor, a cataclysmic event occurred killing both combatants.

Protoceratops & Velociraptor

Onward to our get camp and a hot shower! We stayed at the Gobi Mirage Ger Camp that has roughly 60 gers, some with en suite. Ours does! Time for a nice hot shower before dinner and maybe some time to relax. Dinner will be local fare, salad, soup, dumplings, etc.

Gobi Mirage

3rd Ger on right

Now this is roughing it!

En suite

Dinner’s over, time to head back to our ger for a little R&R, cards, vodka & orange drink, music and then off to bed. More to follow…