Most often, Lake Titicaca, located on the border of Peru and Bolivia, is called the highest mountain lake - it is located at an altitude of about four thousand meters. It is the most famous and largest of the navigable high lakes, but there are other bodies of water located much higher in the world.
Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is often called the highest, since among the high-altitude navigable and large lakes it is located above all: the rest of the reservoirs are much smaller, shallower and almost unknown. Titicaca is located at an altitude of 3812 meters and has an area of more than eight thousand square kilometers: it is the second largest lake in South America, except for Maracaibo Bay.
Scientists have found that in the past this lake was also a bay of the sea about a hundred million years ago.
Various Indian tribes live on the shores of the high lake, the Quechua and Aymara peoples live around the lake and even on its islands. The largest city in the vicinity is Puno. The Indians actively use the possibilities of this reservoir: they swim on reed boats, live on floating islands, fish, and drink pure mountain water. They have many interesting legends and tales associated with Lake Titicaca. For example, they say that the Inca Indians hid their treasures at its bottom to protect them from the Spaniards. Jacques-Yves Cousteau tried to locate them on a submarine, but to no avail.
In 2002, a part of the ancient city was found at the bottom - a stone pavement, a stone sculpture depicting a head and a long wall. Researchers claim that the age of these finds is approximately one and a half thousand years. Perhaps these are the remains of the legendary Indian city of Wanaku.
The tallest lakes in the world
There are several more lakes in the world that are at a higher altitude than Titicaca. So, the most high-mountainous body of water is an unnamed lake near the volcano Ojos del Salado: its height is 6891 meters above sea level. Its diameter is only one hundred meters, it occupies the crater of this volcano, which is considered the highest in the world. The depth of the lake is also insignificant - about ten meters at its deepest point. It is located on the border of Chile and Argentina.
The highest named lakes in the world are Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde, they are located nearby, at the foot of the Licancabur volcano in Bolivia, at an altitude of 6390 meters.
These are very beautiful bodies of water, they are distinguished by an unusual greenish color due to the high content of chemicals.
The next place among the alpine lakes is occupied by the Tibetan reservoir Burog-Ko at an altitude of 5600 meters (there is an unnamed lake nearby at a higher altitude - 5800 meters, but due to inaccessibility it is almost unknown). Panch Pohari lakes in Nepal, at the highest point of the Makalu-Barun nature reserve, are not far behind.
