THE LARGEST AND MOST IMPRESSIVE LAKES IN THE WORLD

REINDEER LAKE – 2,180 MI²

Starting off our list of the largest lakes in the world is Canada’s

Reindeer Lake. Located in western Canada, Reindeer Lake has a

stunning coastline with innumerable inlets and bays and multiple

islands dotting the lake. Its southern end is home to Deep Bay,

the crash landing spot of a meteorite impact from 140 million

years ago. Local legends say a monster dwells in the bay and

drags animals through the ice in winter.

LAKE TURKANA – 2,473 MI²

Previously named Lake Rudolf, the Kenyan-Ethiopian Lake

Turkana is the world’s largest permanent desert lake. The area

along Lake Turkana is important to anthropologists as many

hominid (pre- and early-human) fossils have been found in its

environs. Beware if you want to explore the lake without a

tourist guide – plenty of Nile crocodiles, carpet vipers, and

scorpions live in and around the lake and violent storms appear

suddenly due to rapidly morphing local weather patterns.

LAKE TAYMYR – 1,760 MI²

The largest lake in the Arctic Circle, Lake Taymyr is located in

northern Russia. Though covered in ice for nine months of the

year, the lake supports many diverse Arctic fish such as the

sig and loach. Nearby nuclear testing – including the 1961 test of

Tsar Bomba, the largest and strongest nuclear device ever

detonated, on the Novaya Zemiya archipelago – has led to minor

lake contamination as plutonium particles were carried over by

winds from the archipelago. Lake Taymyr’s Central Island is an

active volcano which occasionally emits steam clouds.

LAKE ATHABASCA – 3,030 MI²

Lake Athabasca, located in central Canada, is home to the Lake

Athabasca Sand Dunes: the largest active dunes on Earth north of

58°. Beyond this title, the lake also produced the world record

lake trout weighing in at 102 pounds (46.3 kg). Heavy uranium and

oil mining near the lake have led to serious pollution levels in the lake.

LAKE NICARAGUA – 3,089 MI²

Lake Nicaragua is the 21st largest lake in the world and one of the

coolest. Though it drains to the Caribbean Sea on Nicaragua’s east,

the lake is so close to the Pacific Ocean it can be seen from one

of its two lake island-mountains. Before the Panama Canal was built,

Cornelius Vanderbilt (famous U.S. railroad magnate) worked on

securing the area as an alternative interoceanic canal. The idea

has been revisited and the Nicaraguan government is in talks

with builders though it’s unknown what stage of the process

this potential Nicaragua Canal is at.

LAKE TITICACA – 3,141 MI²

Spanning the border between Peru and Bolivia, Lake Titicaca

(Lake Titiqaqa in the local Quechua language) is the largest lake

in South America by both volume and surface area. (Though

Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela has a greater surface area, it’s

technically a bay as it is connected directly to the ocean.)

Nicknamed the “highest navigable lake in the world”,

Titicaca is famous for its reed boats which ethnographer

Thor Heyerdahl speculated may have been inspired by Egyptian

reed boats on the Nile. (He built a reed boat and sailed without

any supplies from Morocco to the Caribbean, demonstrating

it could be done.)

LAKE ONEGA – 3,700 MI²

Lake Onega in north western Russia is the second largest lake in

Europe. Famous for its 1,650 lake islands, Lake Onega also hosts

the UNESCO World Heritage site of Kizhi Pogost: a collection of

89 wooden architectural marvels including a church with 22 domes.

LAKE VOSTOK – 4,830 MI²

Did you know there are lakes in Antarctica? About 400 subglacial

lakes (liquid water beneath glacial ice) are known to exist in our

southernmost continent, including its largest: Lake Vostok. Named

after the Russian research station it’s located under, Lake Vostok

has been cut off from other water bodies for up to 25 million years.

The past few years have been pretty exciting as research teams

drilled down over two miles (over three kilometres) of ice to

pull a fresh water sample for analysis.

TONLÉ SAP LAKE – 6,200 MI²

One of the most important facets of Cambodia, the Tonlé Sap Lake is

the largest lake in Southeast Asia. During monsoon season, the

Tonlé Sap River reverses course and flows from southeast to

northwest. The lake then swells, creating one of the most

productive fisheries in the world. Ranging from a minimum

1,000 square miles (2,700 sq km) during the dry season to

its max of 6,200 square miles (16,000 sq km), the lake provides

three-quarters of Cambodia’s inland fish production.

The Tonlé Sap Lake is an important resource for Cambodians

as its fish are their primary source of protein.