Basongcuo Lake

As a gem in south Tibet, Basongcuo’s beauties inspire imagination of anyone who comes here. The flowers in spring, green trees in summer, golden fruits in autumn and white snow in winter all suggest that this is real “Jiangnan of Tibet” and a paradise for both the immortals and the human beings. Like a shy girl, Basongcuo never intentionally displays her beauty to others. She quietly lies in the embrace of the snow mountains and forest, just as the verse going “

There are countless gorgeous places in the world, but only Basongcuo never releases her true face.”Busongcuo, also called Cuogao Lake, is a fantastic lake that hides among the mountains and valleys in southeast Tibet. Thanks to its humid weather and mountainous topography, Basongcuo boasts a piece of very dense forest. Bored of snow mountains and bare Gobi, the locals like spending their holidays in Nyingchi. Thanks to its convenient transportation facilities, Basongcuo is always the hottest destination for holiday’s goers.

Basoingcuo, hiding in the deep valley of the upper reaches of the River Ba, 50 km from the the Gongbujiangda County Nyingchi, is a famous holy lake and land for the Red Sect (the Ninma Sect of the Tibetan Buddhism) at the latitude of over 3,700 meters. It spreads like a huge crescent that goes 12 kilometers long and a few hundred meters wide. The lake, ranked as a 4 A (the highest ranking in China) scenic spot in 2000, has a land coverage of 25.9 square kilometers, the deepest point of which is about 60 meters. It was categorized as a world tourist attraction by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in 1997 and the national forest park by the Chinese National Forestry Administration in 2002. The scenic zone with the Cuogao Lake at its center includes two villages of Xueka and Cuogao; the major attractions are the Arpei Manor, the Watch Tower, the Changjing Stone Tablet the Cuosong Temple and the like. Its vast area and mild topography make the lake an ideal place for aquatic recreations like angling.

Location

Basongcuo lies in the Cuogao Village Gongbujiangda County, Nyingchi. It is in the valley of the upper reaches of the Ba River, 50 km from the Town of Gongbujiangda, 39.6 km from the National Highway No. 318 and 370 km from the Tibetan Capital Lhasa.

Transportation

The 370 km long highway from Lhasa to Basongcuo is all high quality blacktop and the blacktop from the Ba River to the holiday resort may be the most ideal highway in Tibet. But one should take great care when driving on the mountain pass of Mila at the latitude of 5, 000 meters.

It costs about 2,600 Yuan to make a round trip from Lhasa by taxi while the price goes down to 240 Yuan if taking a bus. On the way one will come by the mountain pass of Mila, the County of Gongbujiangda, which is about 90 km from the final destination. If taking the route from Chengdu down the Sichuan-Tibet highway, one can book a taxi at the county government of Nyingchi. The whole trip is 128 km or so at a cost of 320 Yuan.

On the 15th of April, the Tibetan Calendar, or the time around the first of June, the International Calendar the local will circle around the lake. Thanks to the picturesque lake landscape more and more tourists also join the locals to walk around the lake in recent years. One can hardly get lost by taking the very obvious path around the lake. One circle on foot may take one or two days so the travelers sometimes have to bring along tents for lack of hostels on the way. One may also encounter a few streams and it is really interesting to cross them with bare feet.

Opening Time

24 hours a day.

Admission

20 Yuan / person