Lake Baikal tears up the geographical statistics – at a depth of 1,637m / 5,315ft it is the world’s deepest lake, holding nearly one fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water, its catchment area is enormous with 300+ rivers flowing into it, and it is the geological feature that is slowly splitting the Asia continent in two.
To top it all, the winters here get so brutal – temperature can drop down to minus 50 Celsius / 57 Fahrenheit – that in January to April even this vast lake freezes to the point that trucks use it as a highway. A key feature in the centre of the world’s largest land mass.
It is vast and a stay on Olkhon Island – the serene jewel halfway up the west side of the lake – is by far the highlight of a Trans-Siberian railway trip.