Namtso Lake

Located in the Nakchu Prefecture of North Tibet, Namtso Lake is a salt lake at the highest altitude of the world. Worshiped as the Sacred Lake, or Heavenly Lake, it is one of the three holy lakes in Tibet, and a sacred Buddhist land with a time-honored history as well.

The lake, located at an altitude of 4718 meters covering an area of 1920 square kilometers, is a huge sunken basin formed during the geologic age of the Himalayas orogenesis. The lake has a vast area of water surface, with lush float grasses along the lakeshore, making it a natural pasture all the year round. Every summer, flocks of widgeons fly over for inhabitation and propagation. Wild animals such as wild yaks may frequent the lake as well. Moreover, the lake teems with lenoks and naked carps, as well as valuable medicinal materials such as Chinese caterpillar fungus (cordyceps), fritillary bulbs and snow lotus herb (Saussurea), etc.

At the end of the 12th Century A.D., the founder of the Taklung Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism went to the lakeside for meditation exercises with some dignitaries. They regarded the place as the rite for Chakrasamvara. Around the lake there are four temples with one in each of the four directions, namely, the south, north, east and west, which symbolize the resentment, anger, power and force described in Buddhism. Therefore, to the Tibetans, the Namtso Lake is their sacred lake.

Today, the Namtso Lake is still a holy place of pilgrimage to its disciples as well as a tourist resort for visitors to appreciate the gorgeous natural beauty, history and culture, and to explore the relics of the sages.