Gobi oasis - Alessandra Meniconzi - Wildlife Photographer of the Year2011

2011: Wildscapes - Highly Commended

Alessandra Meniconzi Enlarge image Gobi oasis

Alessandra Meniconzi (Switzerland)

Gobi oasis

China is second home to Alessandra. She's travelled the country since childhood, visiting the most remote and wild corners, often cycling or hitch-hiking to get there. During a trip to Inner Mongolia, Alessandra travelled to the Alxa Desert Geopark in the Gobi Desert, which has the world's highest stationary dunes and more than 140 spring-fed lakes, and is a centre for the study of desertification. Climbing the highest dune, the oasis scene below took her breath away. 'I have never seen scenery like this: thousands of small, wind-moulded dunes sunk into one huge one, the scene doubled in size by the reflection in the lake, so that I felt lost in the middle of a huge ocean of sand. The only sounds were the soft whistle of the wind and early-morning birdsong. I felt regenerated.'

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III + 70-200mm f2.8 lens; 1/20 sec at f8; ISO 100; Giotto tripod.

This photograph is available to buy as a print.