Tears of the Kingdom – How to Complete Lost in the Dunes

Gerudo Desert is filled with mysteries, especially if players explore it early on without tackling any of the story in Tears of the Kingdom. It’s home to one of the most challenging exploration quests, forcing players to navigate without a map. This guide explains how to complete Lost in the Dunes so nobody else has to spend hours plodding through the sandstorm looking for pits to fall into.

Related: Tears of the Kingdom – How to Complete the Mysterious Eight

How to Start Lost in the Dunes

Lost in the Dunes is a side quest Link can get in Kara Kara Bazaar in Gerudo Desert at map coordinates -3273, -2580, 0023. Link visits this settlement as part of the main questline in the Gerudo Desert region.

To start it, they need to speak to Robsten, a merchant traveler standing close to Kara Kara Bazaar’s western gate. He tells Link that a friend went out into the desert searching for treasure and hasn’t returned. He says those in his crew head to tall spots when they get lost to make themselves easy to find. He also mentions pits in the sand that people can fall into and is generally worried that something bad might have happened.

How to Complete Lost in the Dunes

The goal of this quest is to find the missing caravaner. We were stuck on this for ages because we thought they’d be somewhere high up that Link could see above the sandstorm. That’s why we spent hours looking for them on the highest points we could find, killing monsters and helping out the locals as we went.

However, it wasn’t until we revisited the quest giver to listen to them again and realized our target had probably fallen prey to some of the quicksand pits littering Gerudo Desert.

The exact location Link must head to for Lost in the Dunes in Tears of the Kingdom is a quicksand pit at map coordinates -3354, -2694, -0001. This pit leads to the Oasis Source cave, linked to Kara Kara Bazaar.

To find it, Link must run out of the western gate at the settlement, the one the quest giver points them to, and search around close to the main path to Gerudo Town. It’s quite easy to find if Link runs around instead of using their paraglider for exploration.

Inside the cave, Link will find the missing caravaner, Ponthos. He’s gotten himself stuck and can’t find a way out. Players can follow the water to find rocks blocking the main path, but enough items are lying around to make light work of breaking through them. Grab a weapon and attach a rock with Fuse to smash through the main path. Once Link reaches the end chamber, where they can see a ladder, Ponthos will climb to Kara Kara Bazaar to meet his friends.

It’s worth returning to the cave to smash the blue and black rock walls before leaving. Players can grab all sorts of minerals and even a Bubbul Gem. When the cave is empty, head up to the settlement and find the quest giver to complete the quest.

They can’t offer Link much in terms of a reward outside of a large sphere. It’s assumed that this sphere is rare because it is adorned with a symbol and looks old. Link can’t put it in their pack, so they’ll need to find a good use for it somewhere in Kara Kara Bazaar.

And that’s it! Check out our other The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom guides below to help with crafting, exploring, and tackling challenges across Hyrule.

Tears of the Kingdom Complete Guide | Every Ability & How To Unlock Them | How to Get The Paraglider | How to Get & Use The Travel Medallion | All Armor Locations & Where to Find Them | All Construct Materials & Where to Find Them | All Shrine Locations & Strategies | How to Get More Heart Containers