Kizil Desert Trekking

Yengisar Kizil Desert Trekking
This is a non-touristy desert about 140km from Kashgar to a small desert village. From village to desert, it is a short 2km walk through the jungle to reach the dunes. This tour will offer you an excellent chance to visit large sand dunes and experience local Uyghur life among the desert's villages, where local superstition and ancient custom are still the tour de force.

One Day trekking tour

Our desert tour guide will meet you at your hotel at 7:30am local time when we head off to the famous Uyghur knife town of Yengisar. Yengisar is only 80kms from Kashgar and whilst there we have the chance to visit a local knife factory (optional). From Yengisar (meaning 'new fort' in Uyghur language), we drive out to a small village on the fringes of the Taklimakan desert, where you'll have an excellent opportunity to experience traditional Uyghur life as it was in the past.
From the village, it's a brief two kilometer (30 minute) trek to the desert edge to visit a local tomb. This is a holy place that is special to locals who visit every Friday morning to pray. Some neighbouring residents have set up small stalls to provide food to visiting pilgrims and they will tell us a interesting tale about the tomb.
The tomb itself is set amongst beautiful sand dunes and this is a perfect opportunity for dune spotting and photographs. It is also possible to ride donkeys and horses out from the village and our time here is your own to spend, until you've had enough. The day's trip lasts eight hours in total of which 3.5 hours are spent travelling. We can organize tours every day before lunch time, and if you'd like to camp or stay overnight in the desert/village we can easily accommodate your requests. We have all the equipment for desert trekking and camping available.