Uvs Lake

The lake is a gigantic island sea in the middle of the dessert. The lake’s surface occupies 3423sq km, making it Mongolia’s largest lake, though it’s very shallow at an average depth of 12m. (Still, the legend has it that the lake is bottomless.) The shallow lake lies near the north frontier of the country where it Uvs aimag borders with Russia, in the Depression of Great Lakes. The Uvs lake lying in desert and desert steppe at an altitude of 760 meters above sea level is surrounded by large marshes in the north and the world’s northernmost sand dunes of Altan Els (Golden sands) in the eastern shore. The lake is five times saltier than the ocean and devoidof edible fish.
The unique nature contrast of the Uvs lake area creates spectacular scenery and habitat for a wide range of animals and plants. Wolf, fox, snow leopard, lynx, mountain weasel, steppe polecat, wild boar, musk deer, elk, roe deer, ibex, argali mountain sheep, Mongolian and black-tailed gazelle from rich wildlife of the Uvs lake area. Ornithologists have documented more than 200 birds species around Uvs Nuur Strictly Protected Area including cranes, spoonbills, geese and eagles, as well as gulls that fly thousands of kilometers from the southern coast of China to spend a brief summer in Mongolia.