Karakul Lake

Lake Karakul, Tajikistan's largest lake, is located in the north of the Pamirs. The name of the reservoir translates as "black lake", which, of course, is not accidental.

In clear sunny weather, the surface of the Doodle is bright blue. But the state of complete calm is not very typical of the lake – it is more like a storm that does not subside for days. When an icy wind blows from the surrounding mountains, raining down tons of sand and dust on the Doodle, its mirror turns blue-black – matching the color of the heavy sky hanging over it. It is this reservoir that most often meets a traveler who wants to see this miracle of nature with his own eyes.

The length is 33 km.
The width is about 23 km.
The area is approximately 380 km2.
The maximum depth of the lake is about 236 m, the average depth is less.
The volume of water is 26.6 km3.
The height above sea level is 3914 m.

At an altitude of almost 4,000 meters, the Karakul fills with bitter-salty water a flat basin that appeared in these places from a meteorite impact many millions of years ago. This assumption of scientists is confirmed, among other things, by images from space.

However, the amazing thing does not end there: it is still unclear where so much ice came from on Karakul. The fact is that a significant part of the shores of the lake is held on ice, and, moreover, ice constantly lies at the bottom of the Karakul! Some scientists believe that the ice has remained here since ancient times, others insist that it appeared recently (the latter, by the way, confirms the analysis of samples). Anyway, today the ice at the bottom of the lake is gradually melting, due to which the outlines of the reservoir are gradually changing.

By the way, the shape of the Doodle is also not very common: the island and the peninsula divide the lake in half. There are many shallow bays and flat capes in the east, and the maximum depth is just over twenty meters. The western part is larger, and the depth here reaches more than two hundred meters!

The difficult nature of Karakul, the desolation and lifelessness of the surrounding area, as well as the fact that there are practically no fish in its bitter-salty water (only a tiny fish named char lives in the mouths of the rivers) gave reason to call it a dead lake. In addition, there is almost no rain here, the water does not warm up above 12 °C during the year, and from November to April the lake is under ice.

However, no matter how inhospitable Karakul may be, thousands of tourists visit it every year, just to stand at the water's edge, breathe in the clean air and take amazing pictures. And the fact that it is impossible to swim, fish, or even have a picnic here is the simplest and most obvious reason why Karakul has kept its nature unchanged for so many years.