Kanas Lake [photo/icpress]

Kanas Lake (Xinjiang)

Kanas Lake is located in the Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The lake sits in a valley in the Altai Mountains, near the very northern tip of Xinjiang, and the province's borders with Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia. The lake was formed around 200, 000 years ago during the Quaternary period as a result of glacier movement. The crescent moon-shaped lake has an estimated water storage capacity of 53.8 billion cubic meters, coupled with an average depth of around 120 meters.

The local tourism information office compares Lake Kanas, which is located at around 48°N, with Lake Léman (the Genève Lake) in Switzerland and France (46°N), due to the similarity of their climate and scenery.

There is a large population of Tuvans and Kazakhs in the Kanas valley area. While most of them have maintained their traditional agriculture and nomadic life style, many of the local people also begin to help in developing its tourism business, and have managed to establish facilities for, rafting, rock climbing, paragliding and camping. The scenic spot has a AAAAA scenic area ranking by the China National Tourism Administration.

Around 117 different kinds of birds live along the lake.

Best travel time: July-Sept

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