Tsomgo Lake'','' also known as Tsongmo Lake or Changgu Lake, is a glacial lake in Changu in the

Gangtok district Gangtok District is an administrative district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Sikkim. It was renamed in 2021 as a result of administrative reorganisation of the state, which also saw three subdivisions of the East Sikki ...

of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

, some from the capital

Gangtok Gangtok (, ) is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Sikkim. The seat of East Sikkim district, eponymous district, Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an elevation of . The city's population of 100 ...

. Located at an elevation of , the lake remains frozen during the winter season. The lake surface reflects different colours with change of seasons and is held in great reverence by the local Sikkimese people.

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monks prognosticated after studying the changing colours of the lake.

Etymology

Sikkimese language Bhutia (, THL: ''dren jong ké,'' ; "rice valley language"), is a language of the Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by the Bhutia people in Sikkim in northeast India, parts of Koshi province in eastern Nepal, and Bhutan. It is one of the offici ...

the name Tsomgo is made of two words 'Tso' meaning "lake" and 'Mgo' meaning "head" which gives the literal meaning as "source of the lake".

Topography

The lake is surrounded by steep mountains which are covered with snow during winter. During summer the snow cover melts and forms the source for the lake. The lake which remains frozen in winter season, sometimes extending up to May, receives an average

annual precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwealth ...

of with temperatures recorded in the range of . The lake is about away from Gangtok on the Gangtok-Nathula highway. Further, the road to

Nathu La Nathu La(, Sikkimese language, Sikkimese: རྣ་ཐོས་ལ་) is a mountain pass in the Dongkya Range of the Himalayas between China's Yadong County in Tibet, and the Indian states of Sikkim. But minor touch of Bengal in South Asia. T ...

skirts the lake on the north side. The Chinese border crossing is only some east-northeast in a straight line, but some by road.

Features

The lake is formed in an oval shape and has a surface area of . The maximum length of the lake is and has a maximum width of . The maximum depth reported is while the average depth is . The lake water quality is of moderate

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and wa ...

. The lake is the venue for the

Guru Purnima Guru Purnima () is a religious festival dedicated to offering respect to all the spiritual and academic gurus. It is celebrated as a festival in India, Nepal and Bhutan by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. This festival is traditionally observed t ...

festival which is also the

Raksha Bandhan Raksha Bandhan Quote: m Hindi ''rakśābandhan'' held on the full moon of the month of Savan, when sisters tie a talisman (rakhi q.v.) on the arm of their brothers and receive small gifts of money from them. is a popular and traditionally Hin ...

festival when the faith healers known as '' Jhakris'' of Sikkim assemble at the lake area to derive benefits from the healing qualities of the lake waters. Alpine forests cover the catchment of the lake. After the winter season ends in middle of May, the periphery of lake has scenic blooms of flower species of

rhododendrons ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, b ...

(the state tree of Sikkim), primulas, blue and yellow

poppies Poppies can refer to: *Poppy, a flowering plant *The Poppies (disambiguation) - multiple uses *''Poppies (film)'' - Children's BBC remembrance animation *Poppies (Mary Oliver poem), ''Poppies'' (poem) - a poem by Mary Oliver *"Poppies", a song by P ...

, irises and so forth. Also seen in the precincts of the lake are several species of birds including

Brahminy duck The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a bird species in the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, whil ...

s. Wildlife seen includes the

red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzz ...

. Tourist attractions at the lake site include joy rides on decorated

yaks The yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, hairy cattle, or domestic yak, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region, the Tibetan Plateau, Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains ...

and

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s where kiosks offer variety of food and drinks. There is also a small

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

temple on the bank of the lake.

Entry permits

As the lake is located in a restricted area it is essential for all Indians visiting the area to obtain permits. In case of foreign nationals special permit is essential.

Indian Postal Service The Department of Posts, d/b/a India Post, is an Indian public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is an organisation under the Ministry of Communications. It is the most widely distributed postal system in ...

released a commemorative stamp on the lake on 6 November 2006.

Border trade market

The nearby habitation of Changgu was declared a

border trade Border trade, in general, refers to the flow of goods and services across the border between different jurisdictions. In this sense, border trade is a part of the normal trade that flows through the ordinary export/import legal and logistical fra ...

market in 2003.

Gallery

File:Changu Lake, Gangtok.jpg, Tsongmo Lake, January 2014 File:Tsomgo Lake.jpg, Tsomgo Lake File:Chsungo.jpg, Tsongmo Lake in Winter File:Source of the Lakes "Sikkim".jpg, Tsomgo Lake in April 2017 File:Tsomgo Lake in October.jpg, Tsomgo Lake in October File:Tsomgo Lake in April 2019.jpg, alt=Tsomgo Lake in April 2019, Tsomgo Lake in April 2019

Tourist Attraction

It is one of the biggest tourism draws in the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim receiving around 300,000 (3 lakh) tourists annually. The best time to visit the lake is January to March.

References

Tsomgo Lake travel guide - Permit Regulations Climate Temperature
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Bibliography

* {{Hydrography of Sikkim Tsongmo Gangtok district Tsongmo