Dalai Nur

Dalai Nur, also called Dali Nur, occupies a basin in Keshiketeng Banner near Chifeng. It is a closed saline lake formed by a lava dam and lies amid a meeting of open pastures: Gongger grassland stretches to the east, Xilin Gol grassland to the west, and the Hunshandake sandland begins to the south. This position makes the lake a conspicuous origin of water in a dry, high grassland setting.

Four rivers feed it: the Gongger, Shali, Liangzi and Haolai, with the Gongger carrying the largest flow. Rainfall and groundwater add to the supply, while evaporation removes water because the lake has no outlet. Its basin has an annual mean temperature near 1.4°C, and the surface is often frozen from mid-November into early April.

In summer, wild ducks, geese, gulls, swans, white-naped cranes and red-crowned cranes gather in the lake area. Fish include dace, crucian carp and common carp. The water, reeds, birds and surrounding grazing lands make the lake a seasonal centre of life across the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.