Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal (Russian: о́зеро Байка́л, pronounced ; Buryat and Mongol: Dalai-Nor) lies in Southern Siberia in Russia between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and Buryatia to the southeast near the city of Irkutsk. The origin of the name Baikal comes from Baigal or Байгал which is translated from the Mongolian language as "nature". It is also known as the "Blue Eye of Siberia".

Lake Baikal is one of the deepest, oldest, and most voluminous freshwater lakes in the world. It contains over one fifth of the world's liquid fresh surface water and more than 90% of Russia's fresh surface liquid water. It is a World Heritage Site. Olkhon, by far the largest island in Lake Baikal, is the second largest lake-bound island in the world (the largest being Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron).