Yamdrok Lake

Yamdrok Lake is honored as the most beautiful lake in the world. The name Yamdrok Lake means “the lake of jasper above the pasture” in the Tibetan language. With an altitude of 4,441 meters, Yamdrok Lake is 130 kilometers long from east to west, 70 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of 638 square kilometers.

Yamdrok Lake, only less than 100 kilometers from Lhasa, is one of the Three Holy Lakes of Tibet together with Namtso Lake in North Tibet and Lake Manasarovar in Ali. It is the largest inland lake in the north of Himalaya Mountain.

Legend

According to the folk legend, the Yamdrok Lake is a fairy descended from the world. According to the legend, there are 9 small lakes consisting of the Yamdrok Lake.  The god Yeshe tsogyai cared about the creatures dying of the shortage of water, she threw 7 taels of gold into the sky and prayed and united the 9 small lakes together.

Highlights

Surrounded by imposing mountains, Yamdrok Lake looks more clear and gorgeous. The picturesque landscape will make people think they are in a fairyland.

The lake takes a shape of a paper fan and stretches roughly from northwest to southeast, while the south is wide and the north is narrow. Along the lake, there are many branches of lake winding their way into the mountains. There is lush pasture around the lake with an area of 10 million square hectares and is one of the most famous pasturelands in Tibet.

Yamdrok Lake has an elegant view and it is said that a fairy maiden left Heaven and turned into the lake on earth. There are more than 10 islands in the lake, the large ones can hold 5 to 6 households while the small ones are only 100 square meters or so. Yamdrok Lake is a salt lake of low consistency and it begins to freeze every mid-November and the ice can be as thick as 0.5 meters.

The lake abounds in small-scale fish, Tibetan fish, plateau carps, etc, with a yearly production of about 200 to 300 million kilograms. The fish breeding business has been flourishing and taken a large scale. The fish is not only sold in Lhasa but also in the inland markets. Here is also the largest habitat for waterbirds in north Tibet. Every winter flocks of birds are flying here from the south.

Along the banks and on the islands there are large numbers of swans, pigeons, yellow ducks, cormorants, and barhead geese. It will cost you 30 minutes to go down the pass to Yamdrok Lake, then you can enjoy the views on the road along the lake. After driving 60 kilometers until you reach Nankartse County, the lake will disappear slowly from your eyesight.

Visitors can also enjoy the island, pasture, hot spring, temple, woods, and animals here. Big or small, there are 21 islands in the lake. Large numbers of migratory birds are living on these islands. The picture of thousands of white birds flying above the lake is really breathtaking. On the islands in the lake or the grasslands around the lake, visitors can also see many kinds of wild animals, such as wild goats and foxes.

In addition, Yamdrok Lake is also the heaven of fish. There is lots of plankton in the lake, which serve as rich food for the fish. And, Tibetan people do not eat fish, so various fish grow happily and healthily in the lake. The fish in Yamdrok Lake tastes tender and tasty, so visitors should not miss it.