Tourists warned to stay away from rare camel habitat

Travel agencies have been offering expeditions to Lop Nur in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region for travelers looking to conquer the no man's land in the region's southeast.

But the trips are illegal. The Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve, the largest dry desert reserve in Xinjiang, is dedicated to the protection of wild Bactrian camels, which are even more scarce than the giant panda.

Fewer than 1,000 wild Bactrian camels live in the harsh deserts of China and Mongolia. About 600 of them - 60 percent of the global population - call the reserve home.