Lake Issyk-Kul

About Lake Issyk-Kul:

• It is located in northeastern Kyrgyzstan.
• Surrounding the lake are the snowcapped Tian Shan mountains (the Heaven’s mountains).
• It has an endorheic basin, meaning it has no outflow to other bodies of water like rivers or oceans.
• The water in the lake is blue and brackish.
• It is after Lake Titicaca in South America, the world's second-largest high mountain lake.
• It is the second-largest saline lake in the world after the Caspian Sea. It is also the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan.
• It ranks seventh in the list of the deepest lakes in the world.
• Owing to its depth, low salinity, and warm springs, it does not freeze, even in winter. Issyk-Kul translates as "hot lake".
• From the lakeshore, all major landscape types, from subtropical to tundra, occur in close succession.
• In 1976, it was included on the Ramsar list as a wetland of international importance.