Expedition to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert
My whole family likes to travel. Both of my parents have been all over the world. My wife and I met in China (no, neither one of us is Chinese) and since then we have traveled together to India, Costa Rica, and all over Europe. When I was 13 and my brother 3, our parents packed up our ‘84 Buick Regal sedan and drove cross-country for a period of almost four weeks. When I was 20 I spent five weeks in Southern Africa riding around in a Land Rover 110 TD5 ( I need to find and scan the pictures from that trip). In the summer of 2009 my mother, her husband and my sister-in-law along with a group of thirteen other people spend four weeks in southern Russia and Mongolia, and here is a bit of car-related photo-journalism from this trip.
Unfortunately none of the people that went on this trip knew a lot about cars, so I have very limited information on these two vehicles. The bigger of the two is German MAN KAT, 6×6, which was originally designed for expeditions very much like this one, with obvious origins as a heavy military truck. I did some research, and it turns out that the KAT is most likely powered by 12.7-liter V8 diesel engine. The engine is mid-mounted (!) and mated to an 8-speed transmission.
This very truck was custom built to be a “bus” and was used what what is called by some “The Automotive Expedition of the Century“. While that may sound a bit optimistic, it seems like one crazy undertaking regardless of what you call it. Searching around the above website I have found a gallery showing the build of the pictured MAN-KAT; very cool and interesting, check it out. Things to notice are the fact that this MAN started off being a 4×4 and the rear cabin was design for “living”, so over time it has obviously undergone some serious modifications.
The second vehicle is a Mercedes Benz TN-series 4×4 van. Again, I cannot find much information on this van, but it was also a diesel. I would assume that the 4×4 system was a factory option as opposed to a modification, but I cannot be sure. Any info on this would be appreciated.
From over a thousand pictures I have selected the ones that show the car-culture of the region, abbreviated expedition shots, some land/city shots and the people. i also wasn’t too crazy about showing the people that went on this trip, which in and of itself threw out more than a half of all the pictures. Enjoy.
Outside of the capital city of Mongolia, there are few, if any, paved roads, and this is particularly true in the Gobi desert. The smaller vehicle was quite poorly suited for this type of travel, and as a result, most of the pictures depicted in this series of a broken down vehicle are of this vehicle. The fortunate packing of some duct tape by one of the unsuspecting tour members is the only reason the vehicle (and its passengers) were able to get out of the Gobi desert!
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