Lake Baikal, Russia

I received this breathtaking view of Lake Baikal earlier this year. Doesn't it look amazing?!



Lake Baikal is the world's oldest and deepest lake at 30 million years old and with an average depth of 744.4 metres.

Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water.

At 1,642 metres, Lake Baikal is the deepest and among the clearest of all lakes in the world. Similarly to Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape with a surface area of 31,722 km2, less than that of Lake Superior or Lake Victoria. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. It is also home to Buryat tribes who reside on the eastern side of Lake Baikal, rearing goats, camels, cattle and sheep, where the regional temperatures vary from a minimum of −19 °C in winter to maximum of 14 °C in summer.



The big stamp on the left was issued in 2010 under the theme 'Military aviation school'. The stamp in the middle is from a set of 11 definitives issued in 1998 and stamp next to it on the right is from a set of 2 definitives issued in 2010, with the theme 'Coat of arms'. The stamp underneath is a definitive from 2008 in a set of 15 stamps depicting animals, this one here being the Hare.