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Khuvsgul Lake is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Mongolia. Its beautiful nature, unique lifestyle of nomads always attract foreign and domestic tourists.
Khuvsgul Lake is the largest freshwater lake and located in Kuvsgul province, the northern part of Mongolia.
The lake is originated about 7 million years ago, with a lake area of 2760 km, width 34-36 km, 136 km long and 262 m deep, at an altitude of 1645 m above sea level. The length of the coastline is 414 kilometers.
This lake is the second-largest in Asia in terms of freshwater resources, accounting for 1% of the world’s freshwater resources.
It is surrounded by majestic Khordol sarydag and Byan high mountain ranges and Lake Khuvsgul is in the depression basin of Darkhad, one of the coldest places in Mongolia.
There are four islands in Lake Khuvsgul: Modon khui, Khandan khui, Dalai khui, and Baga khui. The largest of them is Island of the Dalai khui, which is 126 meters high and 3 kilometers long, 2 kilometers wide and 5.8 kilometers wide, covered with dense forests.
The island of “Khadan khui” has high rocks and crowded with birds. The “Modon khui” has a beautiful nature and the coastal rock contains petroglyph of the Bronze Age.
The Khuvsgul Lake Basin National Park was classified as a World Natural Park in 1992 by the Law on Protected Areas. There are 244 species of birds and 750 species of plants. Also, 60 species of plants are medicinal plants.
The Khuvsgul basin has 59 species of mammals including the mink, rainbow, weasel, ore, elk, brown bear, wild boar, antelope, red deer, squirrel, rock creeper, skunk, manor, crow, leopard, fox, wolf, reindeer, wild sheep and wild goats.
There are rare birds listed in the Red Book, such as Swan, Waning Moon, Altai Peninsula, Seagull, Black Woodpecker, Odorous Angler, Mongolian Predator, Parrot, and Kestrel.
The forests occupy 28% of the Khuvsgul basin and cover 255420 hectares with poplar birch, fragrant poplar, Siberian fir, larch, pine, and Siberian cedar.
Lake Khuvsgul starts freezing from the end of September and become completely frozen in the last half of November. Ice melts in May but there is sometimes still some ice in early June.
During the summer season, between June and September, most travelers visit to the Lake, where the temperature is between 10 and 25 degrees celsius. At the beginning of March every year, an ice festival is held on Lake Khuvsgul.
“My Mongolia Travel” is local travel agency that offers Mongolia Travel packages and travel related services based on Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia.