How would you like to take a small tour of Baikal, which is the oldest and deepest lake in the world? Luckily, you don't have to freeze your ass off! We are bringing the travel guide and the majestic photos from BoredPanda to you!
Source: http://www.boredpanda.com/fairy-lake-bai...Incredible Photos Of Frozen Baikal, The Deepest And Oldest Lake On Earth!
"Baikal was impressive. We were raptured over its beauty so much, that we almost didn't sleep all 3 days we were here."
The depth of the ice on this 373 miles (600 kilometers) long lake was about 6.5 feet (2 meters)!
Which means that a vehicle as heavy as 15 tons can easily drive on it. However, you should still be careful, because the thickness of ice varies at different parts of the lake.
The ice in Baikal is the most transparent in the world! And this is true. You can see everything to the bottom: fish, green stones, plants, and bluish gulf."
And the brave travelers also said that the water was clean and transparent enough to see the things at the depth of 131 feet (40 meters)!
"Baikal is the biggest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and its depth is 5387 feet (1642 meters)."
And it turns out that there are three lakes that go deeper than 3280 feet (1000 meters).
Lake Tanganyika 4822 feet (1470 m) and Caspian Sea 3362 feet (1025 m) are the other two lakes that are deeper than 3280 feet (1000 meters).
"A lot of travelers are moving about on skates, bicycles, or sledge."
And apparently some people even walk hundreds of miles on the ice and even set tents and sleep on the ice!
Ice is cracking all the time. When the frost is very heavy cracks divide ice on different areas. The length of these cracks is 6-18 miles (10-30 km), and the width is 6.5-10 feet (2-3 m).
The bodies of ice, which break regularly every year, make a sound that resembles to gun shot or lightning.
And it is only thanks to those cracks in the ice that the animals in the lake can survive. Because it is only after a crack that they have access to oxygen.
"Ice on Baikal is there til May. But in April no one drives on it."
This amazing lake also has a legend!
"Father of Baikal had 336 rivers - sons - and one daughter - Angara. All sons were flowing into Baikal to restock the water, but the daughter fell in love with Yenisei (one more river in Russia)."
In response, the father Baikal threw a huge rock into his daughter and cursed her.
This rock, named Shaman, eliminated the daughter, causing another river to be born!
And this newly born river is the Angara River, still existing in Russia.
The travelers totally fell in love with Baikal, its view, story, and the atmosphere was amazing!
They totally recommend this trip to whoever can make it!
