NANGGARZE, Tibet: It was an early May morning in 2004 when I first visited the Yamzhog Yumco, one of the three most revered holy lakes in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The usual route taken is via the mountain Gambalha to Nanggarze, but this provides only a limited view of the lake. For a more complete view, my friends and I took a rarely-used path that runs alongside the lake.

The lake surface was as flat as a mirror; at times, two or three rain gulls could be spotted swimming leisurely. We kept driving along the bank until we came to a point from where we could move no further. An assortment of rocks, washed white by the lake waters over centuries, blocked our path.

The lakes in Tibet are classified as inner and external lakes. The Yamzhog Yumco is an inner lake where 70 per cent of the water is from rainfall either directly or flowing in from nearby. Evaporation maintains a magical balance with fresh inflows that has ensured that the lake waters have neither risen nor fallen for thousands of years. The Yamzhog Yumco fish stocks are estimated to be a whopping 250,000 tons.

On this first visit, our vehicle broke down, and we had to live for two nights at Donglha Village. This gave us a rare chance to interact with the locals.

Interestingly, the villagers insisted the water was salty although scientists say Yamzhog Yumco is a freshwater lake.

They also said a hunting ban in the area had greatly increased the numbers of animals coming for a drink of water at the wetlands located at the entrance to the village.

Pretty sight

Chance brought me back to the lake again that year. After resting for the winter, Yamzhog Yumco was just unveiling her ethereal beauty.

The waters were so clear that one could see to the very bottom, 20-40 metres deep. Against the setting sun, the lake's surface shimmered in various shades of blue.

The 16 islets dotting the lake attract a variety of birds such as the black-necked crane and the snow pheasant.

Serdog Islet is the largest and on landing there, the first thing we saw was a nest with four eggs of the dapple-headed geese. Yet another nest in a stony hole had 12 eggs. We found several such nests in quick succession. The dapple-headed geese were clearly a majority, followed by doves, rain swallows and brown headed gulls. We also spotted two other kinds of eggs that we had never seen before.

During my brief stay at Zayu Village, I came upon some 50 dapple-headed wild geese feeding on grass. These wild geese were almost the same size as domestic geese with two black stripes on the head and they inhabit the wetlands. They can be found all over Tibet and are a protected species.

Dapple-headed geese like to stay in groups and usually 20 or 30 of them nest at the same place.

The group we saw comprised families with the adults leading their young to search for food. On seeing us approaching, the adults on guard duty alerted the others and all the birds hurried towards the water. The ducklings were kept in the middle with the adults protecting them from the front and behind.

We encountered another large group of birds off a wide sandy beach. But these were not intimidated by our approach. They only raised their heads and remained still for a few seconds. Convinced that they were in no danger from us, they ignored us.

There were other nests; one particularly big one had thick dried grass on the outside and a layer of soft thin dried grass and feathers on the inside. The blue eggs we saw in it were almost the same size as Tibetan chicken eggs.

We were told that water birds living in the lake all year round build their nests in shallow waters to prevent other animals from stealing their eggs. Snakes, foxes and rats all eat eggs during the breeding season.

Some birds carefully covered their eggs with grass while others didn't seem to care. Apart from grass, one could see only some bushes on the islet. The skylarks, which were the same size as sparrows, jumped around our feet. An hour later, five cormorants left a group on the opposite bank and swam over.

As they neared their nests, the cormorant in the front turned back in a hurry and swam away, followed by the others. About 10 minutes later, they swam back slowly and turned back again when they came close to their nests. They did this about 10 times.

As night approached, one cormorant ventured up to its nest, climbed in and looked around carefully. After ensuring that there was no danger, it began to clean the dried grass on its eggs. This reassured the other birds, and they soon joined in. This behavior lasted more than two hours.

Our third visit to the Yamzhog Yumco took place in August the rainy season.

Runaozha is the largest settlement along the Yamzhog Yumco and is surrounded by large tracts of farmland. Villagers also fish for profit. We found many people with fishing nets sitting beside brooks near their home. They said it was the best season as the fish came to the brooks to lay their eggs.

Netting against the current, they could get three or four fish at least and often as many as 10. The local species is a fish without scales. They are not big and look like a big roach.

Scaleless fish

According to a middle-aged man, the locals did not eat this fish some years ago. But in recent years with increasing numbers venturing out to look for work, demand for fish had increased greatly. It was only then that the locals ventured to try the fish and found it to be really tasty.

He pointed at a pile of fish he had caught and said: "We sell the fish to the restaurants operated by Han people in Nangarze. Each sells for 5 yuan (US62 cents)."

We could not resist the temptation and bought some fish. When we got to Nanggarze, we had the fish cooked with pickled Chinese cabbage in a restaurant. It was an unforgettable meal.

Most vegetation around Yamzhog Yumco seemed well preserved. But there was some cause for concern.

Plateau cypress, also known as low-lying land cypress, is a tree native to Tibet and resilient to cold and drought. But it grows very slowly. A low-lying cypress takes 30 years to grow as thick as a finger.

We saw people near the lake cutting the cypresses to use as firewood. In some places, the grasslands have been seriously affected by excessive herding.

China Daily
Yu Qian