Lake Baikal, in the Russian region of Siberia, is the deepest lake in the world with a maximum depth of 1,632m. It is also the world’s largest volume of freshwater 23,000 cubic km. This means that one-fifth of all the freshwater in the world is located here at Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal is one of the clearest and purest bodies of water. On a good day you could see 40 meters into the lake.
Baikal is also the world’s most ancient freshwater lake, it originated 20-25 million years ago. Geologists say Baikal today shows what the seaboards of North America, Africa and Europe looked like as they began to separate millions of years ago.
So huge is Baikal that it reportedly takes an average of 330 years for a single water molecule to flow through it, from inlet to outlet. Lake Baikal features 27 islands while in and around Baikal live more than 1,500 animal species, about 80 percent of which live nowhere else on the planet.
Winters here are frigid and icebound, with continental cold snaps bringing temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit and producing a layer of surface ice as thick as two meters. Summertime is friendlier, offering long, long days and superb opportunities for hiking, biking, camping and fishing.
The Lake Baikal Coastal Protection Zone, covering the lake and its environs (a total of 88,000 square km), was created in 1987, and the same area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996.
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