Govi-Altai
Where Altai peaks descend into Gobi desert—ecological boundary zone. Home to Mongolia's snow leopards (20% of global population), Gobi bears, wild camels. 5.3M hectare Great Gobi Protected Area.
Where the Altai Mountains descend into the Gobi Desert, Mongolia's second-largest province gets both names: Govi-Altai, desert-mountain. The Mongol Altai range bisects the territory from north to south, its peaks—Sutai Khairkhan at 4,226 meters, Burkhan Buudai, Azh Bogd—towering over desert expanses below. Rivers here behave strangely: frozen in winter, dry in summer, shallow always. Lakes run bitter with salt. The climate is continental to an extreme that makes even Mongolia's standards seem mild.
This ecological boundary zone supports animals that should not coexist. Snow leopards—perhaps 1,000 remain in all of Mongolia, roughly 20% of the global population—hunt argali sheep and ibex on the mountain slopes. Below, in the desert basins, Gobi bears and wild Bactrian camels survive in populations so small they register as endangered. The Great Gobi Protected Area covers 5.3 million hectares here—the largest shelter for Central Asia's endangered fauna, protecting 50 mammal species, 15 reptiles, and over 150 birds.
The province's human population remains sparse. Altai, the capital, serves scattered herding communities who move between mountain pastures in summer and desert lowlands in winter—a vertical transhumance pattern following forage availability. Mining interests have mapped copper and gold deposits in the mountains, but development remains limited by remoteness and the absence of rail infrastructure.
By 2026, Govi-Altai faces competing pressures: conservation organizations seeking to expand protected areas, mining companies probing the geological potential, and herders whose livelihoods depend on pasture access in both zones. The province's isolation has protected it; connectivity may threaten what remoteness preserved.