20 breathtaking lakes
21.07.2023 - 08:25
/ roughguides.com
/ Lake Tekapo
/ Lake Baikal
Encircled by verdant wooded hills that teem with wildlife, water tumbles down through the chain of terraced pools, waterfalls and cascades that make up the Edenic landscape of Plitvice Lakes National Park. Built up over thousands of years, natural barriers of travertine separate the sixteen cool, flat, turquoise lakes and provide dams for the rushing water to plunge over.
High in the thin air of Bolivia’s altiplano stands Laguna Colorada, a shallow stretch of brick-red water flanked by rolling mountains and fringed with crumbling mineral deposits. Dyed with red algae and speckled with white borax islets, this bizarre landscape is a favourite breeding ground for a rare colony of James’s flamingos that pepper its flat expanse.
Beautifully scarring the earth, deep explosion craters pockmark the rich grasslands of Uganda’s Rift floor. Belying their violent births, these depressions now form grassy amphitheatres, calm lakes and small, tranquil pools. Farmed for its salt, the shorelines of Lake Katwe are divided into small plots of saline water creating an earthy mosaic of rusty brown, burgundy and saffron pools.
The jewel in Srinagar’s crown is not just ornamental. Its glassy, reflective waters bustle with colour and life. Brightly painted shikaras, some laden with flowers, skim the surface, tending to floating gardens and weaving their way to and from floating markets. Lavish gardens decorate the shoreline, while ornately carved Kashmiri houseboats bob amongst surface reflections of Pir Panjal’s mountain peaks.
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A land famous for its stunning natural beauty, New Zealand is somewhat spoilt for choice when it comes to magnificent scenery. However, South Island’s Lake Tekapo is certainly worthy of note. Flanked by rolling hills, its dazzling turquoise waters lap against a shore that between mid-November and January is ablaze with a purple sea of wild lupins.
Siberia’s ancient Lake Baikal is the deepest in the world, holding nearly one-fifth of the Earth’s unfrozen fresh water. Shielded by dense forests and mountain steppes, in winter months its scenery is transformed into a vast sheet of immaculate, magical whiteness when, despite its immense depths, the icy freeze over the lake is strong enough for cars to drive across.
A majestic expanse of mirror-like, serene waters, “the lake of stars” stretches from land-locked Malawi into Mozambique and Tanzania. Below its sleek surface, Lake Malawi’s warm waters are teeming with around 500 species of fish, including a dazzling rainbow of cichlids, while its gentle shoreline is punctuated with white, sandy bays, veiled coves and sleepy fishing villages.
With such fairytale vistas, it’s unsurprising that Bled is Slovenia’s most popular destination. Amidst the