Lake Baikal · The Deepest Lake in the World

Lake Baikal is more than sixteen hundred metres deep, the deepest and oldest lake in the world, holding nearly a fifth of the planet’s fresh water. In winter the surface freezes into clear ice, and through it you can see water dozens of metres down.

In Buryat legend the lake is an old man who refused to marry; the old rites threw coins and strips of cloth into the water, asking not for money but for safety. The lake is said to be home to “something in the water”.

The old rule among fishermen is this: before the wind comes up, the surface first goes very flat.

Natural Mysteries / Irkutsk · Russia / Time immemorial