A dune-covered cold desert in northern China, dotted with hundreds of small lakes nestled between the sands.
Area
36,700 km²
Continent
Asia
Location
Inner Mongolia & Ningxia, northern China
Temperature
Hot summers, freezing winters
Rainfall
Under 200 mm a year
Climate
Cold desert
About the Tengger Desert
The Tengger is the fourth-largest desert in China, a sweep of towering dunes broken by over four hundred spring-fed lakes. At Shapotou, on its edge, engineers famously tamed the shifting sands with straw grids to protect the railway. Summers are hot, but bitter winters make it a classic cold desert.
Did you know?
Its name means “sky” in Mongolian, and more than 400 lakes lie scattered among its dunes.
Highlights
- Over 400 lakes among the dunes
- China’s fourth-largest desert
- Famous sand-control project at Shapotou
Photo gallery
Life in the Tengger Desert
Animals, birds and plants that have adapted to survive this landscape.
Animals
Bactrian camel
The two-humped camel of Central Asia, built for freezing cold-desert winters.
Jerboa
A tiny hopping rodent with long hind legs, bounding like a mini-kangaroo.
Birds
Houbara bustard
A well-camouflaged desert bird of Arabia and Central Asia.
Trees & plants
Saxaul
A gnarled Central-Asian tree that anchors shifting cold-desert sands.
Day & night in the Tengger Desert
Deserts are famous for their extreme temperature swings. Flip between day and night to feel the difference — these are typical figures for a cold desert.
Midday sun
+32°C
typical daytime high
Hot or mild summer days swing to bitterly cold nights, and winters can stay far below freezing — these deserts see some of the biggest temperature ranges on Earth.
Recorded range for the Tengger Desert: Hot summers, freezing winters