Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
about 3km southwest of here), Juulchin has the appearance of a ranch, with its stone-and-
brick bungalow building, and is old-fashioned but tidy and welcoming. Showers and toi-
lets are clean but cramped.
Information
You can pay the national park entry fee at the park office in Dalanzadgad or, more con-
veniently, at the entrance to Yolyn Am or from the ranger at Khongoryn Els.
Keep your entry ticket as you may need to show it more than once.
Saikhan National Park Map and Guide,
a satellite map with informative articles.
DINOSAURS
In the early 1920s, newspapers brought news of the world's first discovery of dino-
saur eggs in the southern Gobi Desert by American adventurer Roy Chapman
Andrews (1884-1960). Andrews, a real-life Indiana Jones, led expeditions world-
wide, but became best-known for his expeditions based at Bayanzag, which he
famously renamed the 'Flaming Cliffs'. Over a period of two years his team un-
earthed over 100 dinosaurs, including Protoceratops andrewsi, which was named
after the explorer. The find included several Velociraptors (Swift Robbers), subse-
quently made famous by Jurassic Park. He also found a parrot-beaked Oviraptor,
though his name for the creature (Egg Robber) was a misnomer as later discover-
ies proved that the Oviraptors were not stealing eggs, but incubating their own
eggs.
Subsequent expeditions have added to the picture of life in the Gobi during the
late Cretaceous period 70 million years ago. One of the most famous fossils un-
earthed so far is the 'Fighting Dinosaurs' fossil, discovered by a joint Pol-
ish-Mongolian team in 1971 and listed as a national treasure. The remarkable
80-million-year-old fossil is of a Protoceratops and Velociraptor locked in mortal
combat. It is thought that this and other fossilised snapshots were entombed by a
violent sandstorm or by collapsing sand dunes. One poignant fossil is of an Ovirap-
tor protecting its nest of eggs from the impending sands.
A picture of prehistoric Gobi has emerged - a land of swamps, marshes and
lakes, with areas of sand studded with oases. The land was inhabited by a colourful
cast of characters: huge duck-billed hadrosaurs; Ankylosaurs, which were up to
7.6m tall, were armour-plated and had club-like tails that acted like a giant mace;
long-necked, lizard-hipped sauropods such as Nemegtosaurus, which may have
grown to a weight of 90 tonnes; and the mighty Tarbosaurus (alarming reptile), a
