Namtso or Lake Nam (officially: Namco; mn, Tenger nuur; ; ; “Heavenly Lake” in European literature: Tengri Nor, ) is a mountain lake on the border between

Damxung County Damxung is a county of Lhasa City, lying to the north of its main center of Chengguan, in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its administrative seat is Damquka. The terrain is rugged, including the western Nyenchen ...

of Lhasa prefecture-level city and

Baingoin County Baingoin County (; ) is a county within Nagqu of the Tibet Autonomous Region. County got the name from the lake Drang-khog () which is in center of county. County lies between lakes Namtso and Siling. The county is divided into ten towns and ...

Nagqu Prefecture Nagqu (also Naqu, Nakchu, or Nagchu; ; ) is a prefecture-level city in the north of the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet. On May 7, 2018, the former Nagqu Prefecture was officially declared the sixth prefecture-level city in Tibet after Lhasa, ...

in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, approximately NNW of Lhasa.

Geography

Namtso (Namco) is a lake that first formed during the Paleogene age, as a result of Himalayan tectonic plate movements. The lake lies at an elevation of , and has a surface area of . This salt lake is the largest lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region. However, it is not the largest lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. That title belongs to Qinghai Lake (more than twice the size of Namtso); which lies more than to the north-east in

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...

. Namtso has five uninhabited islands of reasonable size, in addition to one or two rocky outcrops. The islands have been used for spiritual retreat by pilgrims who walk over the lake's frozen surface at the end of winter, carrying their food with them. They spend the summer there, unable to return to shore again until the water freezes the following winter. This practice is no longer permitted by Chinese authorities. The largest of the islands is in the northwest corner of the lake, and is about long and wide, rising to just over in the middle. At its closest point it is about from the shore.

Climate

The weather at Namtso is subject to abrupt, sudden change and snowstorms are very common across the Nyainqêntanglha range. Namtso has a Köppen climate classification of

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

or tundra climate (Koppen ET).

Other Features

Namtso is renowned as one of the most beautiful places in the Nyainqêntanglha mountain range. Its cave hermitages have for centuries been the destination of Tibetan pilgrims. A surfaced road across

Laken Pass Laken La(; ) is a mountain pass at Damxung, north-west of Lhasa near the second-largest salt lake in Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional h ...

at 5186 m was completed to the lake in 2005, enabling easy access from Lhasa and the development of tourism at the lake. Settlements in the area include Dobjoi, Donggar and Cha'gyungoinba. The

Tashi Dor Tashi Dor () is a peninsula protruding into Namtso Lake Namtso or Lake Nam (officially: Namco; mn, Tenger nuur; ; ; “Heavenly Lake” in European literature: Tengri Nor, ) is a mountain lake on the border between Damxung County of Lhasa p ...

monastery is located at the southeastern corner of the lake. Around the area's natural elements, historical and anthropological background, a 2010 romantic drama zh, 香格里拉

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, g ...

, starring China's popular actor

Hu Ge Hu Ge (, born 20 September 1982), also known as Hugh Hu, is a Chinese actor and singer. While studying at the Shanghai Theater Academy, he was invited to play the leading role Li Xiaoyao in the 2005 television series '' Chinese Paladin'', an ...

, was broadcast at CCTV1 and received positive reviews. Some scenes in the 2002 Hong Kong film The Touch were filmed at the lake. Namtso Lake was featured in Episode 4, ''The Roof of the World'', of BBC TV series: ''

Himalaya with Michael Palin ''Himalaya with Michael Palin'' is a 2004 BBC television series presented by comedian and travel presenter Michael Palin. It records his six-month trip around the Himalaya mountain range area. The trip covered only 4,800 km (3,000 miles) ...

''.

Gallery

Asteroid

Asteroid 248388 Namtso, discovered by Italian astronomer

Vincenzo Casulli __NOTOC__ Vincenzo Silvano Casulli, usually known as Silvano Casulli (25 August 1944 – 24 July 2018

in 2005, was named after the lake. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 5 October 2017 ().

References

External links

{{Lakes of China Lakes of Tibet Buddhist pilgrimage sites in China Geography of Lhasa Saline lakes of Asia Damxung County