Zhegu Lake 哲古措

About Zhegu Lake

The Comai County Tourism Development Bureau's description, published on the Shannan municipal government site, glosses 哲古 as the Tibetan for a curved knife and says the lake takes its name from that shape. The bureau calls it the largest lake within Comai County and classes it as interior-drainage (内流河). The two sources cited here differ on its size: the bureau gives about 66 square kilometres, while a 2023 Xinhuanet Tibet channel photo report gives about 70 square kilometres. Both give the elevation as 4,600 metres and both trace the water to snow and ice melt. The bureau also reports that historical materials and folk tradition knew the lake as 达玛玉措 and treated it, together with the mountain Yarlha Shampo (雅拉香布), as an ancient Bon pilgrimage destination in southern Tibet.

Along the shore the bureau describes a wetland pasture, measured in thousands of mu, used for grazing cattle and sheep; Xinhuanet likewise reports broad wetland pasture at the lakeside and calls the lake a paradise for birds. The bureau names pheasants, greylag geese, bar-headed geese, swans and black-headed gulls on the water, with fish below it, and records a hot spring beside the lake at a year-round temperature of about 40 degrees Celsius. Fifty kilometres northeast of the Comai county town lies Zhegu grassland, which the bureau gives as 3.23 million mu (323万亩) in total area, 78 kilometres from Zedang and averaging the same 4,600 metres; among the state first- and second-class protected animals it names there are the kiang, the argali, the black-necked crane and the blue sheep. The bureau records that in 2011 the Zhegu scenic area was rated a national AA-grade tourist scenic area and placed in the first group of Tibet Autonomous Region-level scenic and historic areas.

What to look for

• The lake itself at 4,600 metres, named in Tibetan for the curved knife its outline was likened to
• Waterbirds on the lake — the county bureau names greylag geese, bar-headed geese, swans and black-headed gulls
• The wetland pasture along the shore, grazed by cattle and sheep
• Zhegu grassland, 50 kilometres northeast of the county town, where the bureau names the kiang, argali, black-necked crane and blue sheep among protected animals
• The hot spring beside the lake, given a year-round temperature of about 40 degrees Celsius

Location & getting there

Getting to Zhegu Lake

Confirm the visitor entrance and which boat or walking routes operate on your date. Rainfall, water levels and weather can change access.

• Search for 哲古措 with 山南市 and 措美县.