Ba Bể Lake

Where is Ba Bể Lake?

Countries on its shores: Vietnam.

Largest lake of: Vietnam.

Middle of the lake: 22.42° N, 105.62° E

The story behind it

In the local Tày language, the name Ba Bể means "Three Lakes". The lake is about 8 kilometres long but only 100 to 600 metres wide, and in places it is 29 metres deep. It lies in a hollow in the limestone, and cliffs covered with old, untouched forest rise high above the water. Three islands lie in the lake. One of them, Po Gia Mải, has a sad-sounding name: "Widow's Island". Rivers feed the lake, and in the rainy season it grows bigger than in the dry season. More than 100 kinds of fish have been found in the lake. In the forests around it live rare monkeys such as François' langur, and 233 kinds of birds have been seen in the national park. The lake is the heart of Ba Bể National Park, and since 2011 it has also been protected as a wetland of international importance.

Find it on the globe

Ba Bể Lake is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.