Чарские пески Chara sands

«Райских уголков» на Земле не так уж и много. Зато пространств мало пригодных для жизни – хоть отбавляй. Так, например, около 11% площади всей суши занято пустынями. А к ним человечество никогда симпатий не испытывало. У большинства людей при слове «пустыня» немедленно возникают негативные ассоциации. Для пессимиста пустыня – это сплошные неприятности: зной, пыльные бури, последняя капля воды, обезвоживание и мучительная смерть. Оптимист может разбавить сей мрачный список: «караван верблюдов», «оазис» и «счастливое спасение».
Романтик, говоря о пустыне, непременно скрасит суровую характеристику словосочетаниями: «удивительные лунные пейзажи», «экзотические красоты», «необыкновенные приключения»…. А скептик будет категоричен: «бесконечное однообразие» и «экстремальная скука».
Все сойдутся лишь в одном: что пустыня – это в той или иной мере – экстрим, выживание, но никак не место для отдыха.

https://lesnyanskiy.livejournal.com/170449.html
There are not so many “paradise corners” on Earth. But there are few spaces suitable for life - more than enough. For example, about 11% of the entire land area is occupied by deserts. And mankind has never felt sympathy for them. For most people, the word "desert" immediately has negative associations. For the pessimist, the desert is all about trouble: heat, dust storms, the last drop of water, dehydration and painful death. An optimist can dilute this gloomy list: "camel caravan", "oasis" and "happy salvation".
A romantic, speaking of the desert, will certainly brighten up the harsh characterization with phrases: "amazing lunar landscapes", "exotic beauties", "extraordinary adventures" .... And the skeptic will be categorical: "endless monotony" and "extreme boredom."
All will agree on only one thing: that the desert is in one way or another - extreme, survival, but not a place to rest.

But, there is one cozy desert on Earth, at the mention of which (those who have already managed to get to know it), extremely positive emotions are born.
This is the Charskie Peski tract, which is located in the very north of the Trans-Baikal Territory, in the Kalarsky District. It is located in the middle of the Chara Valley, surrounded by mountains.

This is a real desert with ridges of dunes 20-25 m high, with wind ripples in the sand, with singing dunes and sandstorms. Here you can see the remains of trees that died under the onslaught of the desert and the characteristic creeping grass clinging to the moving sand. For a complete resemblance to the deserts of Central Asia, there are not enough camels and scorpions here.

And yet there is one important feature - the oppressive feeling of universal loneliness. Because Charskie Sands is a very small desert. Its area is about 50 km2. Small, cozy, but not a toy. Everything is real here. In bad weather, it is rather sad to be in the tract, especially if low cloud cover hides mountains that serve as landmarks. Then you can get lost among the dunes. And, in fact, there have been such cases. But, before death, no one got lost in Charskie Sands and did not suffer from dehydration, because, firstly, the size of the dune field is only 5x10 km, and, secondly, the sandy desert is surrounded on all sides by taiga, swamps and streams. This incredible coexistence of two theoretically incompatible types of landscapes is the most surprising fact.

Charsky Sands is called "a miracle of nature". This miracle has been assigned the status of a natural geological monument, and the strange, "wrong" location of the desert in the middle of swampy marshes and taiga raises bewilderment and many questions. Often in publications about the Charskaya desert one can find such expressions: "mysterious origin ...", "no one can really explain ...", "scientists have been puzzling for a long time ...".
In fact, all is well with the learned heads. Let's start with the fact that the Chara Valley is a depression between two mountain systems. From the north, the basin is bounded by the relatively young Kodar ridge, and from the south, the basin is supported by the more ancient Udokan and Kalarsky ridges. Kodar is an amazingly beautiful structure of a typical Alpine type: rugged pointed peaks, narrow saw-like ridges, vertical kilometer-long rocky cliffs, trough valleys and glaciers. The mountains rise sharply above the Charskaya valley, practically without foothills, like a wall, at once for 2-3 kilometers. Because of this, Kodar is sometimes called “the small Trans-Baikal Himalayas”.

Видео Чарские пески Chara sands канала Александр Тылькевич