Tangra Yum Tso, situated in the southwest of Nyima County, is a holy lake of Bon Sect in Tibet. Being the fourth largest salt lake in China (the second largest salt lake is Namtso Lake), it lies in the deep lake basin bottom, at 4,530 meters above sea level, extending in the north-east direction, with a length of 70 km, width of 15-20 km. It is said that the water of the lake may change into three different colors a day. On the west bank, there stand continuous dark red cliffs, just like a row of screens.

The south-north running Tangra Yum Tso is like a sole, with 3 sides guarded by mountains. Only the eastern side of Darguo Mountain has a gap. Darguo Mountain has 7 peaks whose mountain body is black, with the top covered by white snow, like 7 well-arranged pyramids. Together with Tangra Yum Tso, it is regarded as a holy land by Bon pilgrims. The Yuben Monastery built in the cliff cave at the lake side is said to be the oldest monastery of Bon.

Tangra Yum Tso is located in the lonely Wenbu wasteland. In the world’s famous “uninhabited area”, there is only 1 person per 6 square kilometers in the Wenbu District. Yet there is a small village with nearly 100 households—Wenbu Village at the side of Tangra Yum Tso. The majority of the villagers live partly on agriculture, and partly on livestock. They explored a little field on the lakeshore and planted barley, tomatoes, cole green cabbages, etc. It’s amazing to see these plants being planted in a place above an elevation of 4,500 meters, owning to the Lake District climate.

It is said that a long time ago, people living here had no barley. They had to drive sheep fully loaded with salt to other places to exchange the barley. Owning to the long distance, people would suffer from cold and hunger all the way. A couple-- Darguo Mountain and Tangra Yum Tso decided to change this miserable situation. They went on an expedition and grabbed a bag of barley from Quxui. While fighting his way back, an arrow hit this bag and barley spilled out. After getting back, only a handful of barley were saved. He scattered the barley by the lake and his wife cultivated it with her milk. Finally, they got a thriving harvest of barley for this village.

In order to thank the couple, from then on, people from Wenbu village have been worshiping the holy mountain and holy lake by offering sacrifices to them before Spring plowing and Autumn harvesting.

Tips of Tangra Yum Tso 

You can buy some air-dying mutton here, which is by the way super tasty.