The Singing Sand Dune Mountains-‘Mingsha Shan’ and ‘Crescent Moon Lake’ Take a Geotourism around the Amazing Place
The Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake Nature Park are located at the southern outskirts of Dunhuang city, about 6 kilometers away from central city Shazhou and 12 kilometers from Mogao Caves, China. Seen from afar, the mountain is just like a golden dragon winding its way over the horizon. Located on the Silk Road, the Echoing-Sand Mountain is known as one of the Eight Great Landscapes of Dunhuang and one of the Four Great Singing Sands of China.
The Mingsha Mountain is composed of tinny hyaline sands of five different colors – red, yellow, blue, white, and black, and winds its way up and down showing different shapes. Some of the sand dunes stand like a golden pyramid, some lie as the fish scale, some wave-like a snake. Completely filled with sands, the mountain stretches for 40 km in length and 20 km in width respectively, with the highest point reaching 250 meters.
In ancient times, Chinese caravans traveled across the Mingsha Mountains in Dunhuang along the Silk Road to Central Asia and Europe. The Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake Nature Park is a popular destination in Dunhuang to explore stunning desert scenery and take part in exciting sand dunes activities.
The biggest feature of Mingsha Mountain is that the sand echoes. When there is the wild wind, the sands will be blown up and make a loud sound, while the sound sounds like being produced by some ancient musical instrument when blown by the breeze, hence the name Mingsha.
Crescent Lake
The Crescent Lake is in a natural shape of a half-moon and had been commonly considered as one of the Eight Great Landscapes of Dunhuang together with the Echoing-Sand Mountain early in Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD).
Crescent Lake extends for nearly 100 meters from south to north and about 25 meters from east to west and has the deepest point of approximately 5 meters. Compared to its annual evaporation capacity of 2400 mm, however, the particular geographic landform around it prevents it from being buried in the desert; on the other hand, the underflows beneath it also ensure continuous source for it.
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Desert Camping
To enjoy the best of the sunset and sunrise here, from late April to mid-October, you can choose to camp in the desert. The camping base is located at the back of Mingsha Mountain. Apart from this much other activity like Slide down from the top of dunes with a sandboard to experience speed and passion, and listen to how the sands really echo and move in winds is a great experience. If you want to see the sand dunes of Mingsha Mountain and panoramic views of Crescent Lake, you can try flying the glider.
From the city center, Dunhuang there is a straight avenue, named Mingsha Road, leading to the gate of the park. Travelers can take a mini-bus directly from Dunhuang Airport or Dunhuang Train Station to the park.
