China’s Gobi desert and the oasis of Crescent Lake – in pictures

For centuries camels have trekked around Yueyaquan Crescent Lake in China's north-western province of Gansu. The silk route hub has now however more a popular tourist hub
  
  


Crescent lake in China: Camels near the Yueyaquan Crescent Lake in Dunhuang, in China
A guide leading camels near the Yueyaquan Crescent Lake in Dunhuang, in China's northwestern Gansu province. Formerly a silk route hub and centre for trade between China and the West, Dunhuang relies heavily on tourism Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Crescent lake in China: Tourists going through the sand dunes
A cart carrying tourists through the sand dunes, a result of increasing desertification in this area of China. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Crescent lake in China: Crescent lake
The Crescent Lake sits in an oasis just 6km south of the city of Dunhuang in Gansu Province, China Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Crescent lake in China: Guide waiting with camels
A guide waiting for tourists on this former silk route hub Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Crescent lake in China: Tourist guides wait
Tourist guides wait to take people on camel and 4x4 rides around the lake, which has shrunk hugely in the last 50 years, but is now being refilled with the help of the Chinese government Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Crescent lake in China: Man smoking in dunes around Crescent lake
The dunes around Crescent Lake, or Yueyaquan as it was called in the Qing Dynasty, reach a relative height of 250 meters Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
 

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