Told in the hills
A sacred lake on the old road to Tibet
Long before tourist jeeps, Tsomgo was a halt on the trade path from Gangtok to Tibet. The route climbed past the lake to Sherathang and over Nathu La into the Chumbi Valley, and mule trains carried cloth, grain and tools north while wool came back south. The road was made motorable between 1954 and 1958, and Jawaharlal Nehru formally opened it in September 1958 in the presence of the Chogyal. That road is the one your car uses today, widened and repaired many times since.
The lake itself has always been more than a halt. Its name is usually explained as tso, lake, and mgo, head, giving the sense of a lake at the source. Local tradition holds that Buddhist monks once read the shifting colours of its water to foretell the year ahead. Jhakris, the faith healers of Sikkim, are said to gather on its shore at Guru Purnima to draw on the healing power believed to lie in the water. Respect it as a sacred place: no litter, no coins thrown in.
Pinned to the board
Did you know
Tsomgo Lake is about 836 m long and 427 m wide, with a reported maximum depth of 15 m.
India Post released a commemorative stamp featuring Tsomgo Lake on 6 November 2006.
The Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary, about 31 sq km of rhododendron, juniper and silver fir, covers the slopes around the road to the lake.
