Lake Nam

Namtso, the Heavenly Lake, spreads beneath the snow peaks of Nyenchen Tanglha on the Tibetan plateau. Its vast salt waters lie at more than 4,700 metres above sea level, surrounded by high grazing country. To Tibetan Buddhists it is one of the great sacred lakes, a place of pilgrimage where monasteries and hermitages have stood along the shores. In Tibetan sacred geography, the lake and the mountain are paired as wife and husband, each a powerful presence in the landscape.