Desert photography is stunning

Vast seas of sand, a brilliant starry sky, this is a pure land for soul conversations

🌵 Solitude and Abundance: The Dual Charm of the Desert

During the day, it’s easy to feel lonely in the desert. For miles around, there’s no one in sight, just an endless sea of sand, only the blazing sun and the relentless blowing sand and wind. The wind howls in your ears, messing up your hair and the hem of your dress.

But at dusk, the wind suddenly stops, and the sunset’s afterglow casts a pinkish hue on the dunes. The sky above is a light blue, with wisps of gray clouds edged in gold floating by, while the sky near the dunes glows orange.

You truly experience the poetic scene of “a solitary smoke rising straight in the vast desert, the long river and the setting sun round.” At this moment, the feeling of loneliness disappears, and your heart becomes full and emotional. Looking at your friends nearby, a deep sense of happiness naturally arises.

🌌 Starry Night Camping: Lying Under the Milky Way and Shedding Tears

Late at night, our group, fueled by some drinks, climbed the dunes and lay down to watch the star-filled sky.

You must see the stars in the desert once; they will make you obsessed with this desert. At that moment, the world belongs only to you, and the bright stars quietly stud the sky. Your heart fills with rare tranquility, as if your whole being merges into this silent night, not wanting to leave.

Braving the cold wind and blowing sand, gazing up at the vast starry sky, you feel as small as dust. Spending the night in the deserted wilderness doesn’t scare me; the starry sky parallel to the heavens lights up my whole night.

🏜️ Desert Oasis: A Miracle of Life in the Barren Land

Deep in the Tengger Desert are many lakes, the most famous being Tong Lake, Swan Lake, and Moon Lake. The most beautiful sky I’ve ever seen is in Tengger. Blue sky, white clouds, desert, oasis lakes... colliding together, it’s a breathtaking clash of beauty.

The most amazing is the “Heart of the Earth,” Ulan Lake. From the air, it shows a mysterious red color, shining brightly in the golden desert.

Here is a rare small patch of grassland like an oasis! There are leisurely camels and ducks, as well as sand lizards and wild rabbits, cranes flying back and forth catching fish, and recently swans too. It’s like a scene from the animal kingdom, fascinating.

🚗 Desert Off-Road: Real-Life Battle Royale Game

Although I don’t recommend staying in tents, I must recommend riding in an off-road vehicle to cross the desert! It’s unforgettable, like a real-life battle royale game, incredibly fun.

As soon as we entered the sandy area, the driver deliberately took us over several dunes, and we bounced around joyfully. Riding the desert off-road vehicle, weaving and climbing over the rolling dunes, heart racing, shouting and screaming. Speed, weightlessness, sharp turns... desert crossing, twists and turns, it’s definitely a stimulant in ordinary life.

📍 Practical Guide: How to Explore Tengger

Transportation: Generally, there are two routes to enter—through Yinchuan/Zhongwei into Tengger, or from Alxa Left Banner into Tengger. The latter has fewer people but requires choosing campsites and renting cars, with management less standardized than Zhongwei.

Accommodation: Options include RVs and tents. If you don’t camp often, RVs are better, with water and toilets, more convenient. Desert camps also have glamping tents, very photogenic.

Cost: Renting an off-road vehicle costs 500-600 yuan per day. Moon Lake hotels vary by season, ranging from 400 to over 1,000 yuan.

Best Time: It’s recommended to visit when it’s not too hot, or you’ll either freeze or get sunburned. The desert has a huge temperature difference between day and night—scorching hot by day, freezing cold at night.

Must-Bring Items: Sunscreen and warm clothes, plenty of water, sand-proof covers.

The Tengger Desert is faith, it’s transformation. Alone, with a patch of yellow sand and the setting sun, standing in the desert’s center, looking around at the desolation, it’s desolate, it’s despair, yet also pride and strength.

If you want to temporarily escape the city’s noise and find inner peace, why not come to the Tengger Desert? There’s no Wi-Fi here, but days without signal let you find a channel to talk with nature and yourself.

This vast, boundless land, like the ocean, makes people obsessed with it as if enchanted. Everyone who has been to the desert always longs to return.

I hope we can all find our truest selves in the desert and protect this fragile and beautiful land.