Taklamakan Camel Trekking(Hoten)

Taklamakan Camel Trekking for longer days.
Day01
Our tour guide will meet you at Torgat Pass at 12:00am local time. Then you will drive to Kashgar. Torgat Pass needs a permit for the travellers to cross from both sides. We will prepare this for you. There are two options to enter into China. One is from Irkeshtam which does not needed a permit. It is 230km from Kashgar. The second is Torgat pass which is 180km from Kashgar. The scenery of this pass is more beautiful and is very interesting with Kyrgyz villages on the way and see their nomadic lifestyle. We are to arrive in Kashgar around 3:00pm local time. You will be checked in the Qinibag Hotel 3*.
Day 2
Today, you will visit Idkah Mosque, Handcrafts walking streets, Local Tea House, the Old town and have lunch with a local Uyghur family. In the afternoon, Apak Huja Tomb, Arislan han Tomb, Orda Aldi local market. Then free time for you.
Day03
Kashgar Sunday Market. Free time for you to explore the city.
Day04
Kashgar-Hoten (540km, 336miles)
We set out for Hoten at 9:00am. On the way, we will stop in Yingisar town to visit the Uyghur traditional knife factory. In two hours we should arrive in Yarken. We will have lunch there.It is as interesting as Kashgar to explore the traditional Uyghur life. Yarken was famous for being an important city on the silk road and a cradle of Uyghur civilation. It was a captal of Seidiye Kingdom in 16th century. You will visit The Golden(Altun) Mosque, Amannisa Han Tomb( Famous Uyghur musician in 1526-1560), Altunluk maziri ( A very big cemetry for the locals from that town). Then we will drive to Kargilik(Yecheng). There will be a short stop to visit the Big Jame Mosque and an interesting local market in front of the mosque. The next 200km is of more desert. We will pass only two small villages. We will arrive in Hoten at 5:00pm local time and you will be checked in at the Muztagh Hotel 3*.
Day05
Hoten-Yiriye( Yutian) 200km, 124miles
After breakfast, you will visit the Jade factory, Jiya silk and Atlas work shop and the Carpet factory. Then you will drive to Kiriya. You will have a lunch in town and then explore the city for an hour. You will drive a long the Darya boyi village ( which literally means a village along the river). After 20 minutes driving, you will see a vast sea of sand dunes which rise and fall swiftly. The view from the desert is amazing and will take your breath away. This is where you will camp.
Day06
Today, we will drive to Tongguzbasti village. On the way, you will enjoy some oasis and a whole belt of poplar trees which are called toghrak. It is about 200km long and 5km wide. In fall the leaves turn into a beautiful red and yellow which brings you a deep thinking and unique feeling. And you might see some wild animals. You will arrive the Tongguzbasti village which is a very primitive village located in this remote area. The village is not big and this is where you will set up camp.
Day 07
Today you will visit around this unusual desert village. Most of the genuine desert families live away from the village and we will take the opportunity to go out and visit some of them. Most of the houses are constructed with a light wooden frame, lattice and mud walls and roofs. It's unusual for the houses to have any furniture or ornamentation of any sort, apart from rudimentary cooking equipment. Generally, the living conditions in this harsh corner of the world are very primitive. The people of this village have been called "the lost tribe of the Taklamakan."
Day 08
Today, you'll meet the local camel man and start your trekking. You'll pack the camels with the help of camel man. You'll ride a camel or walk over the sand dunes( first 2 hours walk will be over a more grassy desert and then you will reach the sand dunes). After 5 hours trekking we will make camp in the desert. Every day, we'll plan to have enough time to relax and enjoy the sunset and to sit around the campfire talk and learn about some local legends. Sure, you will have time to write in you dairy.
Day 9-13
We will start our day trekking with camels. We will bring enough drinking and cooking water and foods. The first day you will ride camels for about 6 hours and then camp in the sand dunes. Everyday we will cross high sand dunes which can reach about 70m-80m high. On a couple of occasions we will find salt-crusted surface formations which indicate the presence of water close underground. The camel drivers will dig down into these hidden water resources to water the camels. Loading and unloading the camels, making fires, cooking and eating together will provide us unforgetable memories in our lifetime.
Day 14
Today, we'll plan to stay over-night at the foot of the Mazartagh Mountain. It is an amazing scenery which lies adjacent to the dry valley of the Hotan River. You will walk up the 200m high red sand stone hill where there are ruins of a small fort, dating to the 8th Century. Before dinner, you can climb up to the site of the fort and look back at the desert with it's features of low and high sand dunes which we will have previously crossed.
Day 15
At around 7:30am local time, we will have a farewell breakfast with the camel men and say good bye to them before driving back to Hoten. It takes about 2 hours. We will check in at the Muztagh Hotel 3*. The rest of the time is for you to relax.
Day 16
To take a morning flight to Urumqi and our tour guide will transfer you to your hotel Sheraton in Urumqi 5*. In the afternoon, you will visit Dong Korok International Market (Er Dao qiao Da baza) and Xinjiang National Museum. Dinner will be at the hotel.
Day17
Take a morning flight to Beijing or Shanghai.
Every tour we offer can be customized to suit your needs. Please contact us for more information. We promise satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.