March 28, 2024

Lakes of Sikkim

There is something about high altitude lakes – you climb up the mountains roads, gritting your teeth though the hairpin bends and unpaved surfaces and all. And then suddenly from a height, a gleam of water, a patch of brilliant blue, or silvery white speckled with gold, depending on the mood of the sun that day… Sikkim has several such lakes, many of them held sacred by locals and therefore are places of worship as well as tourism.

Elephant lake

Elephant lake was not in the original agenda – we chanced upon it after being turned away from the road to Nathu La just four kilometers ahead of the border, thanks to a landslide. Our driver took us ahead, on the insistence of been-there-done-there fellow passengers to the Baba bunker – the small memorial temple to Baba Harbhajan Singh (along roads maintained by the intrepid Border Roads Organization), with ominous signboards warning – you are being observed by the Chinese army – or something to that effect – the feeling of being sitting ducks is never stronger! There you are, on exposed steep mountain roads, and you are told the Chinese are watching you from their hidden posts! And so we headed on further up till the Elephant lake – with our jeep driver offering a “prize for guessing what the shape is”…

Elephant lake

Tsomgo lake

Called Changu by locals, Tsomgo lake is one of the must-dos from Gangtok. At a height of over 12000 feet, the lake at the lap of snow-covered mountains, remains frozen during the winter months. The snow has all but melted in May, and the view of the lake from a height is much more attractive. Guidebooks says it is held to be sacred by locals, but the scene as we reach the lake is far from sacred or serene. Yaks by the hundreds are being led by their owners who offer tourists short rides along the lake; the animals themselves indifferent to all the chaos, except a few spirited ones that suddenly break into a trot, eliciting happy shrieks from those on their backs. The mist has descended and it is freezing cold at the lake, though most tourists, busy bargaining over yak rides and photo-ops seem to hardly feel it.

Yak at Changu

Ripples in Changu lake

Khecheopalri lake

Also known as the wishing lake and is a place of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists. Unlike the other Sikkim lakes, there are no tourist traps around here; no yak rides, no wheedling vendors, no trinket shops. A walk along a peaceful shaded path leads you to the lake. A small temple and then a stone path, with prayer wheels on either side. We take off our shoes at the entrance and walk to the lake. Several people are offering prayers at the lake, a priest holds flowers in his hands and is instructing a woman on the ritual she is performing. It is a clouded day and the sky is a white blanket, the lake a lifeless green with colorful reflections of prayer flags all along the sides of the lake.

Path to the lake

Priest at lake

Gurudongmar

And the biggest and most beautiful of them all, this lake is at a breath-taking (literally!) altitude of over 17000 feet. Named after Guru Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Dongmar, this is the most sacred of all the lakes in Sikkim. The approach is through non-existent roads through terrain that feels partly desert and partly lunar, along the Khangchengyao range, snow-capped mountains that feel within touching range. And at the end of the arduous drive, a bright blue patch, prayer flags adding color to the borders.

Moonscape

Gurudongmar

9 thoughts on “Lakes of Sikkim

  1. I went to Sikkim after my Class 10th board results with my parents and your lovely post induced a sense of deep-felt nostalgia. Out of the few places untouched by the cheap thrills of modernity, Sikkim is astonishingly beautiful. The lakes look like God’s blessings to the Sikkimese. 🙂

    Very beautifully expressed.

    Regards,
    Abhishek

  2. lovely pics….and I am so ashamed to say that I never imagined this beautiful and pristine places could be right in our own country…Why do we waste our money and dollars abroad?

  3. Abhishek, true, a large portion of Sikkim somehow remains untouched – tourism traps are taking over but it is still a gorgeous place…

    Vamsee, thank you 🙂

    priyanka, yes – loads to discover in India…

  4. Ah changu! this post brings back so many memories… I visited Sikkim as a 10 year old but it’s still vivid in my mind. Changu lake seems frozen in time (almost literally) – I have a picture of a little me standing at the same point in the first pic with my older sister under a huge Indian army umbrella. Even the drifts of snow down the mountain in the horizon seem unchanged! But from your description, perhaps some things have changed. When I visited it, it was a peaceful, unstirred patch of paradise.

    I was also lucky to have visited Nathula – thanks to my uncle who was a Colonel in the Indian Army back then and who was posted here. We visited the border post and waved to Chinese soldiers across the no man’s land, who shouted “aa ja” to me and my sister in Hindi!

  5. sikkim has always been a ‘have-to-visit-sometime’ destination for me. your pictures and notes have just intensified my wish now. thanks charu!!

  6. @Flan… peaceful, untouched no longer true – but still quite breath-taking… you need to find your own quiet corner and hide there, ignoring the crowds!

    radhika, go, go – sikkim is truly beautiful…

  7. Hi

    Your beautiful pics brought back fond memories of my honeymoon at Gangtok last September…

    We somehow didnt see the Gurudongmar lake…we went upto Baba Mandir and returned…maybe it was the landslide or the drizzle that made our driver return back..we saw the Tsangu lake though…

    Sri

  8. Sri, glad 🙂 – Gurudongmar lake is in North Sikkim – about 6 hours drive up – Tsangu lake is the one closer to Gangtok, on the Baba mandir circuit..

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