Banggong Lake

A Brief Introduction to Banggong Lake

Banggong Lake is located about 12 kilometers northwest of Rutog County in Agari prefecture of Tibet, extending to Indian controlled Kashimir area. It is also called Com Ngangla Ringbo Lake in Tibetan which means "A Swan with a Long Neck". In Banggong Lake scenic area, there is a bird island with the highest elevation in the world. It is an east-west lake with a length of about 155 kilometers and a width of 15 kilometers more or less. The lake surface is on the elevation of 4,240 meters with a depth of 57 meters.

Features of Water in Banggong Lake

Banggong Lake is an inland lake with a drainage area of 28,714 square kilometers. Interestingly, it is a lake with various salt contents from the east to the west: water in Banggong Lake is fresh in the east and salt in the west, that is to say, water in the Rutog County is fresh while water on its boarder with Kashimir is salt and water in the middle of the lake is semi-salt. Water in Banggong Lake is very clear with a visibility of three to five meters. Due to the variety of sunlight, water depth and brightness, water of Banggong Lake takes on different colors such as blackish green, light green as well as dark blue.

Attractions of Banggong Lake

There are more than a dozen islands in different sizes in Banggong Lake and the Bird Island is one in them. The island obtained its name for that many birds inhabit on it. A strange situation in Banggong Lake is that the migrant birds only choose the Bird Island to perch while no birds take shelter on any other islands.

The Bird Island is more than 300 meters long and over 200 meters wide with a height above the lake surface of 7 to 8 meters. The Bird Island is covered with gravels, loess and guanos. No large trees can be found on the Bird Island and only a few low shrubs and grasses grow here. During the breeding season in each year, you can find many pots of bird eggs. Since some nestles are connected with one another, you had better be careful when walking so as not to step on the bird eggs.

For that Banggong Lake lies in the westmost part of China with inconvenient transportation, it is rarely visited and the natural surroundings are still well preserved-almost in the primitive condition. As a result, the Bird Island becomes the paradise for birds. So far, there are more than 20 bird species living on the Bird Island with a total amount of tens of thousands. The majority of the birds are migrant birds. They fly to the Banggong Lake from May to September for spawning and reproducing, and then fly back to the Southern Asia in winter to escape from coldness.