Guozha Tso Lake in Rutog County, Ngari

Chinese Name: 郭扎错
English Name: Guozha Tso Lake in Rutog County, Ngari
Location: Located in Rutog County, Ngari, Tibet Autonomous Region
Admission Fee: Free
Opening Hours: All Day

About Guozha Tso Lake

Covering an area of 244 square kilometers, it has a drainage area of 2,790 square kilometers with an altitude of 5,080 meters above sea level. .The northern half of Guozha Tso Lake is fresh water and the southern half is salt water. There are two different kinds of water in the same lake which the highest elevation of Rutog County is a mixture of salt water and fresh water. Guozha Lake, also Gozha Co, Gozha Tso or Guozhacuo, also known as Lake Lighten, is a glacial lake in Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the western Kunlun Mountains to the northwest of Bangda Lake,not far from the regional border with Xinjiang.

Located at the southern foot of Kunlun Mountain, it has long fault line cliff. There are dozens of glaciers and snow mountains in the northern half of Guozha Tso Lake with an altitude of more than 6,000 meters.  Therefore, the water in the northern half of the lake is low, so the northern half of Guozha Tso Lake is fresh water .On the contrary, the southern half of the lake has less water, the evaporation is large with high  mineralization, so it is salty water.

 It is an extremely remote area for wild animals of the Qiangtang Plateau in the north of Tibet around the Guozha Tso Lake. Main wildlife are known as “Mountain Bully” snow leopard, which are good at climbing steep cliff more than 6,600 meters above sea level and a rare national key protected animals with strong vitality. It’s most able to adapt to the plateau cold climate, which is listed as national key protection object.

Attraction Transportation

Tourist can travel to Lhasa by air or train firstly and then transfer to Rutog County by long-distance bus, which is the major choice. There is no need for you to worry about the transportation.

Attraction Travel Tips

  1. Traveling Hours: 1 day
  2. Traveling Seasons: May and September.
  3. High Altitude Sickness Avoiding: Better take some medicines for relief and keep warm all the time.
  4. As there is a large temperature gap between daytime and night, it is highly recommended to take along some pieces of thermal clothing, hat, and gloves and so on.
  5. Please try your best to respect the religious belief and local customs.
  6. As well as the Tibet Entry Permit, you also need to apply for Border Permit for traveling as this destination lies near the Chinese territory boundary.