Baikal

Do you know Where twenty percent of the Earth's fresh water is hidden ?

One of the most spectacular and unspoiled places on earth, which attracts tourists worldwide, is lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. This lake is considered to have the purest and most tasteful water known to man. The water in the lake is so clean and clear that one can easily catch sight of fish some forty meters down (120 feet). There is a legend, which tourists enjoy, that a boater lost his watch to the lake which can still be seen on the bottom.

There are thousands of lakes on this planet but we are speaking of no ordinary lake, but rather about one of nature's miracles. One of the few unique places left of unspoiled beauty.

Here are some interesting facts about this lake:

• Baikal’s basin is made up of three underwater depressions, which together holds more water than all five of the Great Lakes of North America. It holds one fifth of the earth's supply of fresh water.
  
  
• This Siberian miracle of nature is the deepest lake (1,700 m ) in the world.
  
  
• The lake is so large that all of the rivers on the Earth combined would take an entire year to fill it.
  
  
• At 25-30 million years old, it is the oldest lake in the world,
  
  
• Baikal also hides a mystery.

The lake is home to the world's only fresh water seal.
It is still a great mystery how the nerpa (seal) appeared in the center of the Asian continent, when it's relatives live in the northern arctic regions

When standing on the top of any of the mountains surrounding Lake Baikal, the view affords you breathtaking scenery, especially the blue mirror of water that stretches as far as the eye can see.
	This wondrous lake reflects the azure of the sky and the billowy white of the clouds. The surrounding landscape is full of sunshine. The view is so spectacular that one could not even imagine it in one’s wildest dreams.

The lake and the entire surrounding area is truly a paradise for tourists and an ideal area for engaging in an array of outdoor pursuits, including hiking, skiing, nature photography, climbing, and whitewater sports.

Baikal is one of the most attractive vacation spots in all of Asia; a place where people can reach out and feel the synergy of Mother Nature as well as enjoy the majestic and unearthly beauty. It is a place where you can sit back and relax, listening to the soothing music caused by the waves lapping on the shore or swim in the crystal-clear water. Nowhere else will you feel so much at one with the nature.

Baikal's water, long famous for its spiritual and medicinal qualities, is called "living water."
Lake Baikal's deep waters are blanketed in fresh oxygen. It has only been in the past five years that scientists have discovered thermal springs beating up from the bottom of Baikal.

Baikal holds twenty percent of the earth's fresh water

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The lake's surrounding wild mountains and rivers make the Lake Baikal region an ideal area for engaging in an array of outdoor pursuits including hiking, climbing, whitewater sports, skiing and nature photography and harbors more endemic species of plants and animals than any other lake in the world.

Baikal is about 636 km long and about 80 km wide

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Many kinds of fish make Baikal their home, and about 50 are suitable for eating. A delicacy worldwide, the salmon found in Lake Baikal is excellent.

Of the 336 rivers and streams flowing into Baikal, only one, the Angara, flows out from it

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Baikal has more than 1,000 species of aquatic flora!