Sanse Lake in Banbar County, Chamdo
Chinese Name: 三色湖
English Name: Sanse Lake in Banbar County, Chamdo
Location: Located in Banbar County, Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region
Admission Fee: Free
Opening Hours: All Day
Geographic Location of Sanse Lake
Sanse Lake（三色湖）is located in Banbar County（边坝县）, Chamdo Prefecture（昌都市）, Tibet Autonomous Region, 50 kilometers away from the county seat, which was listed as the first scenic spot of Tibet autonomous regional in 2011. Banbar County is in eastern Tibet, the northwest Chamdo area, and the southern foothill of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountain（念青唐古拉山）(latitude 30.7 ° and 94.7 ° east longitude) with an average elevation of above 4000 meters. Provincial road S303 line runs through Banbar County.
Introduction of Sanse Lake
Sanse Lake consists of white, black and yellow-colored lakes, which are arranged with the shape of the Chinese character “Pin”（品）. They are separated by low mountain platform between lakes, which are formed by thr melting low-lying valley ice water for many years. Black lake in Tibetan language is called “cuona”（那措）, which is the largest one in Sanse Lake area, covering an area of about 100 thousand square meters with the water storage of 2 million cubic meters. The “black lake” looks like a zigzag. The Black Lake scenic spot is covered by the shadow of the mountain with the black rocks in the bottom of the lake, deep dark, hence the name “Black Lake”. The lake water runs through the cracks and pours into the white lake. After the black lake is seeping into the white lake, the lake is white, so it is named with “White Lake” because of the constant accumulation of sand and sediment. White Lake is located in the lower reaches of Black Lake, with an area of about 43,000 square meters. The land is flat, the surface of the lake is calm and relatively open, and the white lake flows into the river which lives in the upstream tributary of the Nu River. Yellow lake is a dead water lake. It is a lake with the smallest area. The lake is turbid and rich in yellow mineral. The Yellow Lake, the Black and White Lakes are very different from each other, but the three colors complement each other.
The Scenery of Sanse Lake
The scenery of Sanse Lake is beautiful and pure with its unique lake area scenery and plateau natural biosphere forming the organic harmony unity of the natural biosphere. There are rich in green and lush trees, abundant biological resources, dense hydrophytes, especially in the fine scale fish, wild duck and other national precious animals gathering round, which make the lake shining with the broken light, beautiful and pleasing.
Sanse Lake scenic area has a unique natural landscape, magical mythological legends and ancient cultural relics. It not only focus on the plateau lakes, mountain waterfalls, one thousand glaciers, mountains, different peaks, ancient seabuckthorn forests and other natural landscapes, at the same time, there are more than 700 years history of Banbar Monastery and 400 years of history of Dazong Historic Site（达宗遗址）. The folk Guozhuang（民间锅庄） of Sanse Lake Scenic Area has been included in the autonomous region level intangible cultural heritage.
The Climate Features of Sanse Lake Scenic Area
The climate of Sanse Lake Area is semi-humid climate type. It has the characteristics of more sunny days, long sunshine time, strong solar radiation, large temperature difference, low temperature and four seasons without distinct features. The lowest temperature is 20 ℃. There is strong wind in winter and spring, and more thunderstorm hail in summer and fall. The frost-free period is shorter. The annual precipitation is about 600 mm. The hottest months are July and August; the coldest months are December and January. The annual average temperature of 4.7 ℃.
Natural Resources of Sanse Lake Scenic Area
There is a great variety of natural resources in Sanse Lake Scenic Area, especially mineral resources, forest resources, wildlife resources, medicinal herbs resources which are extremely rich. There are thousands of acres of ancient seabuckthorn forest（沙棘林）. The scenic spot also contains crystal, gangue and other non-metallic minerals. On the lakeside, there are forests of cypress, pine, Yang, birch, and seabuckthorn, as well as various shrubs of rhododendrons, willow embroidery, and thin leather. The lake is rich in biological resources, dense water and grass, large and large scale fish, and the lake of rare animals such as wild ducks. With the light wind blow throng, visitors can see the sparkling and beautiful lakes. There are also some rare wild animals such as sheep, Tibetan snow chicken, brown bear, snow frog, forest musk deer, four elephants and bison. It is also a natural treasure-house, which is rich in the medicinal herbs such as the Fritillaria thun-bergli（贝母）, the Cordyceps sinensis（虫草）, the rhodiola（红景天）, the Saussurea involucrate（雪莲花） and the Rhinacanthus nasutus（灵芝草）.
Attraction Transportation
Tourist can travel to Lhasa by air or train firstly and then transfer to Banbar County by long-distance bus, which is the major choice. And you can transfer from Qamdo to Banbar County. There is no need for you to worry about the transportation.
Attraction Travel Tips
- Traveling Hours: one day
- Traveling Seasons: May to September.
- High Altitude Sickness Avoiding: Better take some medicines for relief and keep warm all the time.
- 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.
- Please try your best to respect the religious belief and local customs.
- 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.
