How to get to the Taklimakan Desert?

Traffic Guide of Taklimakan Desert: Kashgar is the transportation hub of southern Xinjiang, and the transportation industry is relatively developed.

Large passenger planes fly back and forth between Kashgar and Urumqi every day. When the tourist season comes, four flights are added every week, which provides great convenience for tourists. There are daily flights from Kashgar to Urumqi, which take off at 2 1:30 and arrive in Urumqi at 23:00.

Kashgar is the terminal of the southern Xinjiang railway. The main trains are as follows: K888 14:42 starts from Kashgar and arrives in Urumqi the next day 14:52; K886 13:22 departs from Urumqi and arrives in Kashgar the next day 13: 16.

Highway Kashgar extends in all directions, and all counties (cities) in the whole region 12 are connected by cars. From Kashgar to the northeast, there are highways leading to Zhou Ke, Aksu, Korla and Turpan, and then to Urumqi in the north. From Kashgar to the southeast, there are highways leading to Shule, Yengisar, shache, Zepu, Yecheng and Hotan, then to Dunhuang in Gansu and Golmud in Qinghai to the east, and from Yecheng to Ali in Tibet to the south. There is a China-Pakistan international highway from Kashgar to the south, and two highways to the north and west lead to the CIS via Turgat port. Take a bus from Urumqi at 5 pm and arrive in Kashgar at noon the next day.

There are limited shuttle buses in this area except Kashgar. You can rent a car or take a passing car, but please pay attention to safety. If you want to go to Tashkurgan and Hongqilafu ports, please get a letter of introduction from the company in advance (if you don't handle it, you can ask the local travel agency to open it for you) and apply for a border pass at the regional public security office on Seman Road in Kashgar (you need to apply for another border pass to enter Hongqilafu in Tashkurgan).

The starting price of taxi in Kashgar is only 5 yuan. From the airport to the hotel, the taxi fee is 30 yuan; From the hotel to the airport, taxi fare 10 yuan; The train station is also 10 yuan. Outside the city, the taxi fare is generally 1 1 yuan.

Taklimakan Desert, which means "a place where you can't get out" in Uighur, is often called "the sea of death". Located in the center of Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang, the whole desert is about 1000 km long from east to west and 400 km wide from north to south, with a total area of 337,600 square kilometers. It is the largest desert in China, second only to the Sahara desert in Africa, and the second largest mobile desert in the world.

Among the major deserts in the world, the Taklimakan Desert is the most mysterious and fascinating one. The desert center is a typical continental climate, with heavy wind and sand, great temperature change and little precipitation throughout the year. There are frequent sandstorms here, and the sand dunes have strange shapes, up to 250 meters. The most wonderful thing is two red and white sand dunes, the famous Holy Tomb Mountain. The top of the mountain was eroded by the wind to form a "big mushroom". Due to the ups and downs of the earth's crust, sedimentary rocks composed of red sandstone and white gypsum are exposed to the ground, forming a bright red and white landscape.

Around the desert, along the banks of the Yarkant River, Tarim River, Hotan River and Qierqin River, dense Populus euphratica forests and willow shrubs grow and develop, forming a "sand sea green island". Especially on the banks of Hotan River, which runs through the desert, a variety of sandy weeds, such as longevity reed and Populus euphratica, grow, forming a "green corridor" in the desert. The promenade is full of flowing water and connected with oases. Animals such as rabbits and birds live in forest belts, which also adds a little vitality to the "sea of death". The investigation also found that the desert is rich in groundwater reserves, which is conducive to development. Where there is water, there is life. Scientific investigation overthrew the "life forbidden zone theory". In the vast desert, countless ancient city sites have been discovered so far, and the printed cotton cloth and embroidery of the Eastern Han Dynasty have been unearthed at the Niya site.