Wuliangsuhai Lake 乌梁素海

About Wuliangsuhai Lake

Its shallow water and reed beds support a rich wetland community, including mute swans and other migratory birds. The managed visitor shore provides the clearest introduction: an extended pier opens the lake view, while the bird exhibition adds context to the habitat beyond it. Observing from public facilities keeps the visit focused on the lake without disturbing the protected reed interiors.

The name is Mongolian for “poplar forest”. The lake is a river-formed lake that developed from a former course of the Yellow River, within the Ningxia-Inner Mongolia plateau region and the Yellow River drainage system. It stretches 35 to 40 kilometers from north to south and 5 to 10 kilometers from east to west, covering an area of about 293 square kilometers. It lies within Wulate Front Banner (乌拉特前旗), where the Wuliangsuhai wetland is also located. Its water is supplied mainly by tail water from several hundred kilometers of irrigation and drainage canals in the Hetao irrigation district, with part of the outflow regulated back into the Yellow River via a return canal.

Wuliangsuhai is an important freshwater fishery base for the Hetao region of western Inner Mongolia, with more than twenty fish species, including carp, crucian carp, grass carp, silver carp and Huanghe yaluoyu (黄河雅罗鱼), producing an annual catch of 300 to 800 wan jin (万斤). It is also habitat for more than 120 bird species, including the whooper swan (大天鹅) and spot-billed pelican (斑嘴鹈鹕), both national key protected bird species in China.

What to look for

• The shallow lake and reed margins from the extended visitor pier.
• The bird exhibition and the wetland habitat associated with mute swans and migratory waterbirds.

Location & getting there

Getting to Wuliangsuhai Lake

Approach the Wuliangsuhai ecological tourism area in E'erdengbulage Sumu, Urad Front Banner.

• Use the managed visitor shore and check any boat programme locally; bird sightings vary with season and conditions.