Lake Baikal is a rift lake in the south of the Russian region of Siberia. The meaning of the Baikal is “Nature”. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world and it containing roughly 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface fresh water and at 1,642 m the deepest. It is also among the clearest of all lakes and thought to be the world’s oldest lake at 25 million years. It is the seventh-largest lake in the world by surface area. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals. The lake was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
