Deserts, in people’s minds, are generally images of endless sand and desperate high temperatures. Few people think of lakes in the desert, let alone lakes that stretch as far as the eye can see. The lake we are going to talk about today is located in the desert. It is currently the largest desert freshwater lake in China, with an area of ??41.5 square kilometers. This lake is called Hongjiannao.

Hongjiannao is currently located in Shenmu City, Shaanxi Province. Although this lake is not particularly large in area, standing by the lake will definitely give you the feeling of being boundless. Due to the special geographical location and vast waters, the ecological environment near here is also relatively good. Therefore, this place is also favored by the most endangered bird in the world, the relict gull. Every year in certain seasons, thousands of relict gulls choose to come here to breed and breed, which is very spectacular.

Due to its special desert lake scenery, large-scale tourism development has also been carried out here, from the characteristic aquatic breeding base to the natural wetland reserve, to the grassland wetland scenery on the other side of the lake, and then Coupled with many sand entertainment projects that can only be carried out on sand, it adds a lot of fun here. It is said that a water park has also been built here. Having fun under the unique scenery of the desert lake seems to be a very wonderful travel experience.

Not only that, Hongjiannao also held the Desert Rock Music Festival. Five days and five nights of carnival on the lakeside of this pearl of the desert really attracted a lot of music-loving tourists. It is said that in addition to concerts, there will also be Combined with local food, the food and music festival are combined, making it more attractive for people to come. It’s no wonder that nearly 300,000 tourists come here every year.

However, the increased number of tourists does not seem to be good news. You must know that the area of ????Hongjiannao once reached 67 square kilometers, but in the past 20 years, the area of ????this lake has shrunk by 25.5 square kilometers. The water area is decreasing every year. As the lake area decreases, people are increasingly worried about whether Hongjiannao will become the next Lop Nur.

According to calculations, although Hongjiannao is still known as China's largest desert freshwater lake, this lake is actually on the road to salinization. Due to man-made influences and the reduction of local natural precipitation, the area of ????this lake has been decreasing. As for which reason accounts for more, we don't know. We can only say that people have different opinions. I wonder what readers think?

In fact, Hongjiannao has already experienced a "water replenishment", with up to 1 million cubic meters of fresh water replenished from the reservoir in upstream Inner Mongolia. Although the water level of the lake rose by 3 centimeters in a short period of time, But judging from the data of an average decrease of 30 centimeters per year, this replenishment is simply a drop in the bucket.

However, many departments are currently actively protecting this largest desert lake in China. After all, in the 1930s, the area of ????Hongjiannao was as low as 1.3 square kilometers. It was not until later remediation and severe flooding that it reached 67 square kilometers in the 1960s. Perhaps Hongjiannao will be able to return to its most spacious appearance in the near future, but I don’t know when.

Author: Yujian