Ranwu Lake Photos

The Ranwu Lake, the largest in southeast of Tibet, is in the Village of Ranwu (also known as Ranwok) around the southwest corner of Baxoi of Chamdo prefecture, Tibet, about 90 km from the Baiba Town neighboring the Nyingchi Prefecture. Called “the Tibetan Switzerland”, the lake is a perfect blending of the Swiss Alps snow peaks and glaciers and the streams in Jiuzaigou Valley (a beautiful national park in Sichuan Province). The Ranwu Lake is especially known to all for its crystal-clear blue and tranquility.

The Ranwu Lake covers an area of 22 square kilometers with a length of 26 kilometers. It is a barrier lake due to landslide or debris flow jams river as natural damming. The narrowest point of the lake is less than 1 kilometer. With an altitude of 3,850 meters, the lake is surrounded by the Gangrigabu Snow Mountain in the southwest, the Azhagongla Glacier in the south and the Bosula Peak in the northeast, with the famous Lagu glacier extending to the lake from the north. The melted snow and ice supply the lake with sufficient water and are also the source of many rivers such as Yaluzhangbu River. The lake stretches more than 10 kilometers toward the west and shrinks into a narrow river valley.

Many of the peaks surrounding the lake are over 5, 000 meters high and thus permanently locked with glaciers. However, at the foot of the surrounding peaks, the green grassland around the lake, the sky-blue lake water and the white snow mountains constitute a very pretty watercolor. The color of the water changes with the seasons, ranging from aquamarine to turquoise. When the sun rises, the lake looks like a mirror reflecting snow-capped mountains, white clouds and the surrounding forest.

Villages on both of its shores are slightly different from the typical Tibetan houses in other places by no decorations or paintings on doors and windows. The houses are smaller and compacter to maintain warm in the severer winter. Furthermore the smaller structure allows heat to be maintained within the house more effectively. The browsing herds of cattle and sheep, the barley paddy, bean and cabbage field form an oil painting, which can be seen no elsewhere.