Ejina Poplar Forest

The Populus euphratica, the desert poplar, survives in the Gobi where almost nothing else does, tolerating salt, drought and shifting sand, and the groves along the Ejin river in the far west of Inner Mongolia are the largest concentration in China. For about three weeks in October their leaves turn a saturated gold, and against red sand, blue sky and the dead black trunks of the Guaishulin, the strange tree forest where poplars killed by falling water tables still stand, they produce the images that draw photographers from across the country in numbers that overwhelm a remote banner town. Nearby lie the ruins of Khara-Khoto, a Tangut city abandoned in the fourteenth century.

The landscape

• The gold poplars - the three-week autumn colour along the river channels.
• The Guaishurin - dead standing poplars in a bare landscape.
• Khara-Khoto - the ruined Tangut city in the desert nearby.
• The Gobi setting - desert, dry riverbeds and distant mountains.

When to go

Late September to mid-October only; outside those weeks the trees are green or bare and almost no one comes. The exact peak shifts each year and is announced locally. Accommodation triples in price and sells out months ahead during the season.

Things to know

Ejina is extremely remote, a long flight or a two-day drive from most cities, and the October crowds are severe for a town of its size. Prices during the season are inflated. Outside the season there is very little reason to make the journey.

Nearby

Khara-Khoto lies southeast; the Badain Jaran desert is east.