We visited on Christmas Day, so the pool was frozen over. The views from the top of the sand dune were still incredible though, but we didn’t walk around the oasis. It probably looks much better during summer time.
To be honest, before my visit I half suspect that this place was man made as how is it possible that a crescent shaped oasis can appear in the middle of the sand dunes in Gangsu.
Seeing is believing, especially when I saw evidence of photographs that were taken in early 1900’s by explorers from the West.
The view from the ground level is OK but if you really want to see the spring and the pavillion that is next to it, you will have to climb up the sand dunes.
Not quite sure if it was the time of year or global warming but the lake looked shallow with not the cleanest water . It was not all that spectacular even when climbing up the dunes for a birds-eye view. However, the camel ride was fully worth the trip to come out here to the dunes, otherwise, would not recommend if it was just for Crescent Lake.
Similar to the Sahara Desert, this too has an immature oasis-spring, albeit on an outer fringe of the Northwest China’s Taklamakan Desert. It is surrounded by large sand dunes.
To find oasis in the midst of a desert is interesting. After our camel ride, we took a walk on the boardwalk till the end to find this much talk-about Crescent Moon Lake surrounded by the fine sand dunes (Mingsha Sand Dunes).
