Hongjiannao Lake 红碱淖

About Hongjiannao Lake

Hongjiannao Lake (红碱淖) is a freshwater lake in the northwest of Shenmu (神木市), Yulin (榆林), on the border between Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia at the southeastern edge of the Mu Us Desert (毛乌素沙漠). CCTV and China National Radio both describe it as China's largest desert freshwater lake.

The lake has no outlet. It formed in the 1920s as groundwater and surface water collected in a hollow among the sands. Nao (淖) is the Mongolian word for a lake; according to CCTV, the shore sandstone is rich in iron and turns red, and the water is weakly alkaline, which together gave the name, roughly "red alkali lake". At its largest, in 1969, it covered 67 km².

China National Radio calls the lake the world's largest breeding ground of the relict gull (遗鸥), an endangered species of desert and semi-desert habitats that nests only on islands with water on every side. CCTV reported more than 7,000 nests and about 15,000 birds there in 2011, over 95% of the species worldwide, but fewer than 4,000 nests in 2016. The lake once held 17 fish species and more than 80 kinds of waterbird.

According to CCTV, rainfall since 2012 has averaged about 350 mm a year against evaporation of more than 2,000 mm. Four of its seven seasonal rivers stopped flowing around 1997, and from the mid-2000s reservoirs upstream in Inner Mongolia cut off the two main remaining feeders, leaving the Qibusu River (七卜素河) to supply about a fifth of the former inflow. The shoreline retreated, the number of islands fell from 13 in 2004 to two in 2016, and Red Stone Island (红石岛) had become joined to the shore. The water's pH reached 9.8 and the wild fish died out.

Hongjiannao entered China's list of nationally important wetlands in 2008 and became a national nature reserve in 2018. Under a 2016 agreement between Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, the Zhasake Reservoir (札萨克水库) is to send water to the lake, and Chinese Wikipedia reports the water area back to 35 km² by 2020.

What to look for

• The relict gull breeding colony on the remaining islands
• Red iron-rich sandstone along the shore that gives the lake its name
• Red Stone Island (红石岛), joined to the land as the water level dropped
• White high-water marks left on the shore as the level falls each year
• Reed beds planted on the saline ground left by the falling lake, to hold the sand

Location & getting there

Getting to Hongjiannao Lake

• Search for 红碱淖 with 榆林市 and 神木市.