Lake Khanka

Khanka covers around four thousand square kilometres on the plain of western Primorye, shared with China where it is called Xingkai, and it is very shallow - averaging four or five metres - which makes it warm, turbid and enormously productive. That productivity is why it matters: the marshes, reedbeds and wet meadows around it are among the most important bird habitats in East Asia, on the flyway between Siberia and south-east Asia, holding red-crowned and white-naped cranes, oriental storks, swan geese and hundreds of other species on passage and breeding. It is a Ramsar site and a transboundary reserve with the Chinese side. In July and August the sacred lotus flowers in the shallow bays and channels, in stands large enough to be a local event. Wind gets up fast on water this shallow and the lake becomes rough and muddy within minutes.

What you actually see

• The bird passage - cranes, storks and geese on the Siberia to south-east Asia flyway.
• The lotus - stands flowering in the shallow bays through July and August.
• The shallowness - a lake of four thousand square kilometres averaging a few metres deep.
• The transboundary reserve - protection shared with the Chinese side.

When to go

July and August for lotus; April to May and September for the largest bird movements. A day or an overnight.

Honest expectations

Core reserve zones need permits and much of the shore is inaccessible marsh. Birds are distant and a scope is needed. Wind makes the lake rough and boats unsafe quickly. Mosquitoes in the reedbeds are extreme. Parts of the shore are border zone.

Nearby

Spassk-Dalny is east; the Chinese border runs through the lake.