Namtso Lake

Namtso Lake :Namtso, another holy lake in Tibet, is located near Damxung. 4718 meters (15475 feet) above sea level and covering 1900 square kilometers (735 square miles), the lake is the highest saltwater lake in the world and the second largest saltwater lake in China. The snow capped Mt. Nyainqentanglha, considered as the son of Namtso and leader of sacred mountains, soars up to sky beside her. Singing streams converge into the clean sapphire blue lake, which looks like a huge mirror framed and dotted with flowers.

Best time to go: Summer or on Tibet New Year, because Thousands of pilgrims travel a long way to worship here on the Tibetan New Year.

The Namtso Lake is held as "the heavenly lake" or "the holy lake" in northern Tibet. Lying at the foot of Nyainqentanglha Mountain, it covers an area of 1,940 square kilometers at an elevation of 4,718 meters. It is believed to be the second largest saltwater lake in China and the saltwater lake at the highest elevation in the world.

Respected as one of the three holiest lakes in Tibet, the Namtso Lake is the seat of Paramasukha Chakrasamvara for Buddhist pilgrims. In the fifth and sixth month of the Tibetan calendar each year, many Buddhists come to the lake pay homage and pray. Deep tracks are worn into the lakeshore due to this activity. In history, monasteries stood like trees in a forest around the site, attracting large numbers of pilgrims as eminent monks in Buddhist temples extended Buddhist teachings.

Buddhists believe Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Vajras will assemble to hold religious meeting at Namtso in the year of sheep on Tibetan calendar. It is said that walking around the lake at the right moment is 100,000 times more efficacious than that in normal years. That's why thousands of pilgrims from every corner of the world come to pray at the site, with the activity reaching a climax on Tibetan April 15.

Walking around the lake takes a week. Ritual walkers love to burn aromatic plants to raise smoke on Auspicious Island [explain this a little] and throw a piece of hada scarf into the lake as a token of fulfilled wishes. If the scarf sinks, it implies ones wish is accepted by the Buddha; if the scarf flows on the water or only half sinks, it means one has failed to be honest and something unhappy may lie ahead.

On the four sides of the lake stand four monasteries, which have Buddhist meanings. By the lake there are also two standing stone pillars, each rising 30 meters and eight meters apart. One has a crack large enough to hold a single person inside. Some Tibetans believe it is the Gate God of the Namtso Lake.

Five islets planted in the vast sapphire lake are said to be the incarnation of the Buddha of Five Directions. Every pilgrim walking around the lake will piously worship them. These islets are famous for their topography, covered by weird but vivid stones.

Another five peninsula protrude into the lake and represent sites related to eminent monks, such as temples. On the north bank of the lake is the Zhaxi Peninsula, on which stands a forest of strange-shaped stones forged from calcium, among which occur numerous fantastic caves.

Besides gorgeous and enchanting sights, the Namtso Lake is also rich, with birds darting over the water now and then. It is a heaven for animals and plants, producing abundant fish. The natural pastureland around the lake offers ideal conditions for animal husbandry.

The views around Lake Namtso each evening at dusk are beautiful and fantastic

Overnight at Namtso in a tent house

An overnight stay at Namtso, 195km north of Lhasa, has become a popular trip in recent years. With a surface area of 1,940 square kilometers ( 750 square miles), the sacred lake is the second biggest salt lake in China ( after Koko Nor, or Qinghai Hu). A nomad, moving steadily, needs 18 days to circle it. This part is its narrow eastern tip. The road descends rapidly to the plain where it continues over the grassland, fording shallow streams. Mt. Nyanchen Tanglha's white head soars 7,088 meters ( 23,249 feet) in the west, and the tin roofs of Namtso Qu, a tiny county station, can be seen near the foothills far off to the east.

Namtso tent house  click to see large pictures  
        

To reach the lake's edge, a four-wheel-drive vehicle must leave the track and make its own way. Several kilometers west, a group of isolated hills extends into the lake.

Water birds skim the water and, in June, hundreds of wild geese nest close off shore on bands of reeds. Color abounds everywhere, in tiny jewel-like flowers underfoot and in distant mountain rocks. To take a walk and experience the immense distances, the timelessness and the total silence of the plateau is perhaps to understand the nomads' deep lover this land.