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The mountains groan every night. Do you believe that?
There are so many booming dunes in the Badain Jaran desert. The dunes make noises that resemble sometimes a flying airplane, sometimes a groan, sometimes even singing. If a man or a horse steps on booming sand in midsummer, it sounds like thunder and can be heard several kilometers away.

Once 14 of us were descending a 50-meter-high sand dune, there was a huge roar with loudness of around 60-70 DB. The boom from the sand sounded so much like a propelled plane passing overhead, we automatically looked up at the sky. To hear that sound made everyone’s thoughts turn toward spiritual matters.

In the desert, we can not only hear sounds caused by stepping on it, we can also hear sounds initiated by winds blowing sand down a slope. I was told that these latter sounds, from which booming sand gets its name, can be heard up to 20 kilometers away. The dunes have complete booming activity and they can groan without any human intervention.