Day Tour to Davakul Lake Taklimakan Desert

Activities: Davakul Lake is located on the southeastern tip of the Taklimakan Desert. The meaning of Davakul in the Uyghur language is ‘curing lake’ . People swim in its waters to seek cures for their ailments. There you have options to ride a camel, horse or one of the dune buggies in the Taklamakan Desert.

Place & Transport:Kashgar to Dawakul lake to Kashgar (280km)

Davakul Lake is located 130km from Kashgar, on the southeastern tip of the Taklimakan desert. Davakul in Uyghur means “curing lake” and for many centuries people have visited the lake to swim in its waters seeking cures for their ailments. From the lake you can look out to the vast Taklimakan desert and the sand dunes stretching away before you. At the lake shore locals oven bake delicious freshly caught fish, lamb and chicken which you can enjoy for your lunch. We will take a walk around the lake and enter into the desert.  There is the option to experience ancient desert transportation by riding a camel or alternatively for a more modern exhilarating ride you have the opportunity to drive one of our dune buggies over the dunes. We can also trek through the desert for a couple of hours.

Taklamakan desert is the second largest shifting sands desert in the World, covering an area of 337,600 square km. Taklimakan Desert is known as the “sea of death” by the silk road traders that used to have to cross it in their caravans in times gone by, many traders entered the desert lost their way and were never to be seen again.

We will arrive back to Kashgar in the late afternoon.

On request we can also arrange several days desert camping and desert trekking tours.