KHERMEN TSAV

Another miracle of the Mongolian Gobi is Khermen Tsav. In the mid of 1990s, the famous Russian researcher Sergey Volkov looked for the spiritual kingdom Shambala, believing that it existed in the Mongolian Gobi region, and during his trip he discovered a giant "Sand Sphinx" in Khermen Tsav, which became later popular among tourists. It is located at the westernmost edge of Umnugovi province, 460 km from Dalanzadgad city and 150 km west from the center of Gurvantes sum.

Khermen Tsav, known as the "Grand Canyon" of Mongolia, is a huge mud chasm covering an area of 250 square kilometers, formed by hundreds of millions of years of wind, storms, and the erosion of seawater from the Mesozoic and Paleozoic era. Amazingly, its 100-200 meters walls extend for 10 km. At the "entrance" to the gorge of the Khermen Tsav, there are 10-meters tall clay towers called "Policeman cliff" and "Guardian Cliff". This is what the locals call the places.

There are no residents or herders living in the 70-80 km circle area of Khermen Tsav. So in this desolate place, two-thirds of the starting point of Khermen Tsav seems to have no life and people call it "Death Valley". When a storm breaks out, the path can be easily erased. If the travelers don't bring enough clean water supply, food preparation, and good communication equipment with them to Khermen Tsav trip, the place can be inverted o truly "death valley". but, there is an oasis at the end of the area, where the world-rare multi-leaved poplar or Poplar tree, saxaul tree, and elm grow. Also, in this oasis, it can be found tracks of animals such as bears and wolves, while the native reptiles of Gobi, the zamba lizard, and the dog lizard are abundant. Researchers usually visit in the spring and fall because of the summer high temperatures of 40-50 degrees celsius and to avoid the risk of loose soil weakening the vehicle's traction.

Dinosaur researchers called Khermen Tsav "Bottom of the Ancient Sea" or "Bottom of the Dead Sea" and found complete dinosaur bones there. From this place with high importance of paleontological science, Dinosaurs such as Therizinosaurus, Zavrolozh, Tarbosaurus, Horned dinosaurs, and Pinacosaurus were explored.