Sandy desert among glac­i­ers — sounds like a mirage of a weary trav­el­er. How­ev­er, the Chara Sands is exact­ly the place where such an anom­aly occurs in real­i­ty: the hot desert is sur­round­ed by the harsh glac­i­ers of Kodar. True, such a neigh­bor­hood makes its own adjust­ments: instead of camels — deer, and instead of palm trees in rare oases — larch­es and cedars.