Nine holy lakes in Tibet

Tangra Yumco Lake

Tangra Yumco is the largest holy lake of original Tibet's Bon religion, and is the third largest lake in Tibet overall.

It is 70 kilometers long, 20 kilometers wide, covering an area of 1,400 square kilometers, and sits more than 4,600 meters above sea level.

Tangra Yumco and Dargo Sacred Mountain are located in the wilderness that is well-known as a "no man's land". In the Shuanghu and Ombu areas which take up an area of more than 200,000 square kilometers, there is only one person for every six square kilometers.

Legend has it that in ancient times, Dargo the Mountain god went to Tohlung Dechen trying to find good barley seeds. This thus enraged all of the local gods who went in hot pursuit after him.

Many hardships fell upon Dargo. Of his stolen barley seeds, he carefully sprinkled the remaining seeds on his wife's side. Tangra Yumco was nourished from her breast milk, and with careful cultivation, the tsampa barley here became the sweetest in Tibet.