China (Xinjiang province) and Mongolia

In order to be ready for the "China Olympics" total solar eclipse on Friday August 1^st, 2008, a scouting trip in China and Mongolia was mandatory during the summer 2006. A recce in the Altai Republic, a Russian Federation autonomous region well known for its Altai Mountains and belonging to UNESCO World Heritage, has already taken place in August 2004. This new scouting trip in the Chinese Gobi along the "Silk Road" in the Xinjiang Uighur province and Western Mongolia had for main goal to get the best weather on all the eclipse path. The Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area was established in 1976 and was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 1990 as one of the largest biosphere reserves in the world (5.3 million hectares).
The point of greatest eclipse (totality phase during 2 min 27 sec) lies in northern Siberia near the Kara Sea. This hardly reachable and isolated area is also swampy and the weather at this time of the year not good enough. An inspection visit in this area will however be conducted in 2007 around the point of greatest eclipse near Nadym, the Gazprom town of natural gas. To get more promising weather prospects while still having a good duration (totality phase between 2 min 20 sec and 1 min 50 sec) and be able to visit the area, it is much more interesting to be more to the south.

To book these tours (detailed itineraries & prices) or for more information please contact us (limited space available). "A la carte" side trips can be proposed. An example is the visit to the 7,546 meters high impressive Muztagh Ata peak base camp and then some mountaineering for the most adventurous.

You can use this solar eclipse calculator to compute the local circumstances of the eclipse, and the solar eclipse timer notifies the beginning of the various events. A time exposure calculator is there to help you choose your camera settings.