What is the best time to visit Namtso?

The best time to visit Namtso: Lhasa is located on the north side of the Himalayas. Affected by the downdraft, it has sunny weather throughout the year, with little rainfall, no severe cold in winter, and no scorching heat in summer. It has a plateau monsoon semi-arid climate. The highest temperature is 29°C, the lowest temperature is minus 16.5°C, and the annual average temperature is 7.4°C. Rainfall is concentrated in July, August, and September, with an annual rainfall of about 500 mm. There are more than 3,003 hours of sunshine throughout the year, making it known as the "Sunshine City" say. Generally, July, August, September and March are the best travel times.

Namtso is a huge basin formed by the movement of the Himalayas. The existing lakeside plain has good pasture and is a natural pasture. At the beginning of summer, flocks of wild ducks fly to roost and breed. Namtso means Tianhu in Tibetan. It is located between Damxung and Bangor counties to the north of Lhasa City, Tibet. Hunan is home to the majestic Nyainqentanglha Mountains, and to the north and northwest are the gently undulating Northern Tibetan Plateau. The lake is long and narrow, 70 kilometers long from east to west and 30 kilometers wide from north to south, with an area of ??1940 square kilometers.

About 2 million years ago, a strong movement occurred in the earth's crust. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was greatly uplifted. The rock layers were squeezed. Some folds and uplifts became mountains, and some sunken and fell into valleys. or intermountain basin. Namtso was caused by the collapse of crustal tectonic movements and the influence of glacial activities. In the early days, Lake Namtso was very vast, and its altitude was much lower than it is now. At that time, the climate was quite warm and humid, the lake was full of water, and the blue waves were vast, just like a sea. Later, due to the continuous uplift of the earth's crust, Namtso also continued to rise. In addition, since 10,000 years ago, the plateau climate has become drier and the source of lake water has decreased. The lake surface has shrunk greatly, and the lake has been raised to its current height.

The lake is now 4,718 meters above sea level, making it the world’s highest lake with an area of ??more than 1,000 square kilometers. Worba Co on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has a lake with an altitude of 5,465 meters, but its area is very small. Although there is a famous alpine lake in the Andes of South America, Lake Titicaca, which covers an area of ??8,330 square kilometers, its altitude is only 3,812 meters, which is nearly 1,000 meters lower than Namtso.

The source of Namtso's lake water is mainly natural precipitation and mountain melting ice and snow. The lake water cannot flow out. It is the largest inland lake in Tibet. The lake area has low precipitation, strong sunshine and large water evaporation. The lake water is bitter and salty and cannot be drunk. It is the second largest saltwater lake in my country after Qinghai Lake. Namtso is also known as Tengger Sea and Tengger Lake. Tengger in Mongolian means sky. This is because the lake is as blue and clear as a cloudless blue sky, so it is named. The snow peaks around the lake are like solid silver waves, reflected in the lake, solemn, solemn and extremely natural. There are three islands in the lake. To the southeast is a peninsula made of limestone, which has developed into a karst terrain with stone pillars, natural bridges, caves, etc. The scenery is beautiful and varied. Due to the cold climate, the lake was covered with thick ice in winter, which began to melt in May of the following year. When it melted, the cracking ice made a loud noise that could be heard for miles, making it a natural wonder. Namtso is quite rich in resources and contains abundant minerals, such as salt, alkali, Glauber's salt, boron, etc., all in large amounts.

The lake is rich in fish, with fine-scaled fish and scaleless fish swimming in groups in the lake, mainly Schizothorax carp and striped loach of the Loach family. These fish are different from similar fish in the plains. Over the past 2 million years, the original fish here have gradually mutated and evolved as the earth's crust uplifted and adapted to the special environment of the plateau. Some fish still retain their original characteristics of large heads and short tails. Schizothorax can generally grow to one or two kilograms, and large ones can grow to seven or eight kilograms or even dozens of kilograms. In the past, because Tibetans did not have the habit of eating fish, the fish in the lake fended for themselves and were never afraid of people. When people approached the lake, the fish swam over one after another. In summer, when fish in the lake swim from the depths of the lake to the lakeside beaches and estuaries to spawn, they can often be caught easily.

Namtso is fed by waters such as the Rosa, Targu Zangbo, and Chahasutai rivers. The lake is surrounded by a vast lakeside plain, growing with wormwood, table moss, edelweiss and other herbaceous plants. It is a natural pasture with rich water and grass, and can be used for grazing all year round. Herdsmen in northern Tibet drive their cattle and sheep here every year before winter arrives to survive the snowy and cold winter. Namtso is the most lively and noisy in summer, with wild yaks, blue sheep, hares and other wild animals grazing on the vast grassy beaches; countless migratory birds fly from the south to lay eggs, hatch and nurse their offspring on the island and on the lakeside; there are schools of fish in the lake Sometimes they leap out of the water, their silver scales twinkling in the sunlight; shepherds whip their horses and their horses leap, cattle and sheep surge like falling clouds from the sky, and high-pitched, melodious songs echo in the valley. The quiet Namtso is full of vitality and interest. No wonder the Tibetan people regard Namtso as a symbol of beauty and happiness. Namtso is indeed a gift from nature.