Yamdrok Lake

Yamdrok Lake is about 70 kilometers away from Lhasa. It is one of the three holy lakes in Tibet (the other two lakes are Namtso and Mapam Yumco.) It is the largest inland lake at the northern foot of Mt.Himalaya. It covers an area of 678 square kilometers and is about 4441 meters above the sea level.

Yamdrok Lake - Brief Introduction

Yamdrok Lake means a jasper lake or swine pool in Tibetan. It stretches 130 kilometers from the west to the east and 70 kilometers from the south to the north. The lake shoreline is 250 kilometers. It is 70 times the size of West Lake in Hangzhou. The average depth of the water is 20-40 meters and it reaches 60 meters at its deepest.

Yamdrok Lake is a plateau barrier lake formed after the glaciers and the debris flow blocking the river about 0.1 billion years ago. It is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and is fed by numerous small streams. There are 21 islands scattered in Yamdrok Lake. The largest island is about 18 square kilometers while the smallest island is only about 100 square meters. These islands are of fertile soil and exuberant forage with flocks of wild birds inhabit on.

The worldly famous glacier - Noijinkangsang is located at the west of Yamdrok Lake. With a height of 7206 meters, Noijinkangsang is the most sacred glacier in Shannan Prefecture and also one of the four holy mountains in Tibetan. Besides, Yamdrok Lake Power Station - the pumped storage power station with the highest elevation in the world is located here.

Yamdrok Lake - Animal Resources

Yamdrok Lake is as clean as a mirror. Its lakeside is a natural plateau pasture with fertile soil and exuberant forage. At the end of spring and early summer, flocks of herds would come to the islands under the guidance of their shepherds. They would not back to the lakeside till winter since Yamdrok Lake would freeze in winter.

Yamdrok Lake is also rich in fishes. Various kinds of fishes live in the lake. They would swim to the phytal zone for food and oviposition from the profundal zone in summer. Yamdrok Lake is the heaven of fishes since Tibetans do not eat fish. It is evaluated that there is more than 0.8 billion kilograms of fish in the lake. Hence Yamdrok Lake is praised as "fishbase" of Tibet.

There are numerous wild animals on the islands in Yamdrok Lake and its lakeshore, such as wild sheep and foxes. There are even snow pigs inhabited on the mountains with an elevation of 5000 meters surrounded Yamdrok Lake.

Yamdrok Lake - Sacred Lake

It is said that the devout Buddhists would walk around Yamdrok Lake every. It would take about one month to round the lake by horse. The Buddha would bless them good luck and happiness all around the year.

Yamdrok Lake was praised as sacred lake since Tibetans believe that it could help people to find the reincarnation of Daila Lama. People would hold special ceremonies at Yamdrok Lake to find the reincarnation of Dalai Lama after he passed away. The lake would indicate the right direction of the location of the reincarnation.

Yamdrok Lake - Landscapes

Yamdrok Lake is praise as the most beautiful lake in the world. You could not see the panorama of Yamdrok Lake no matter where you stand. You would surprisingly find that it looks like an eardrop inlaid in the ear of the mountains only when you take a bird-view. It reflects mysterious blue colors under the bright sunshine.

Tourists would be slaves of the mountain and lake landscapes of Yamdrok Lake. It is a natural scenic area collected the plateau lakes, snow-capped mountains, islands, pastures, springs, wild animals and monasteries together. The lake, glaciers and blue sky form the most amazing picture in the world.