The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia

by Sven Hedin

The lake of Lop Nur, the *Heart of the heart of Asia,* is one of the world’s strangest phenomena. Situated in the wild Chinese province of Xinjiang, Lop Nur - *The wandering lake*- has for millennia been in a perpetual state of flux, drifting north to south, often tens of kilometres in as many years. It was once the lifeblood of the great Silk Road kingdom of Loulan, which flourished in this otherwise barren region 2,000 years ago and its peculiar movements confused even Ptolemy, who marked the lake twice on his map of Asia. Sven Hedin became captivated by the Lop Nur's peripatetic movements and for forty years his destiny was inextricably linked with that of this mysterious lake and the region surrounding it. His last journey to Lop Nur was in 1934. Travelling the length of the Konche-daria and Kum-daria rivers by canoe, Hedin embarked on his last Central Asian expedition and proved what he had always suspected - that Lop Nur did indeed shift position - and why. When he camped on its vast banks at night, Lop Nur was deep and full. Today, this once great lake - a a mighty reservoir in the desert - is nothing but windblown sand and salty marsh. The third in Sven Hedin’s Central Asia trilogy, The Wandering Lake is a gripping story of adventure and discovery but it is also a rare account of a now-vanished world; a masterpiece by one of history’s last great explorers.

Genres: Travel, History, Nonfiction, Asia

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Sven Hedin was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer, and illustrator of his own works. During four expeditions to Central Asia, he discovered the Transhimalaya (once named the Hedin Range in his honor) and the sources of the Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej Rivers, Lake Lop Nur, and the remains of cities, grave sites and the Great Wall of China in the deserts of the Tarim Basin. In his book Från Pol till Pol, Hedin describes a journey through Asia and Europe between the late 1880s and early 1900s. While traveling, Hedin visited Constantinople (Istanbul), oil-rich Azerbaijan in times of the Nobel Brothers, Teheran, Mesopotamia (Iraq), lands of the Kyrgyz people, India, China, Asiatic Russia and Japan.

Reviews

[Sun Shan · Rating 4 out of 5]

世界真実物語の一つです。
砂漠、川、泥にはまり混んだ流木の幹の周りをサラサラ流れる水の音が聴こえる静かで、自然ならではの景色が目の前に広がってくる。
千年以上この湖の砂漠地帯に寝ていた18歳の女性死骸が保存されたお墓が1枚の白黒写真に収めた。
いつの間にか繁栄の樓蘭古国がラクダ🐪の鈴の音とともに、砂漠の砂に埋めれて、消えてしまう。
歩きながら、冷静な目で、ゆとりの心で、この辺の地理地図を描くことに決心して、実現できた中央アジア探検家スヴェン・ヘディンさんに対して、未だに道を悩んでいる私にとって、なんて羨ましいことだろう。

[Malcolm]

The world Sven Hedin describes has vanished as have the kind of people whom he represents. So, in reading this kind of book one recreates a world now lost.

Burton, Lawrence, the world they describe seems remote and somewhat fantastic. Hedin's world seems just beyond the horizon yet one knows it is gone. One cannot tread in his footsteps. His world is now paved.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sven Hedin, one of the world's greatest explorers of Central Asia, recounts in this later volume (which chronicles his travels in 1934) how he solves the mystery of the "wandering lake" of the Taklamakan Desert, so-called because of its wandering location on those maps that recorded its presence over 2000 years. If you want to know the answer, read the book, but first read his earlier more seminal works of his travels and adventures in the region so you understand that this trip was also one of nostalgia for this great Swede, for it was also his last to the region. He recounters old friends and former 'staff' (such as the [in]famous Ordek) and travels along many of the same roads and waterways he had travelled in the past. He draws comparisons between his 1901 travels and those of other explorers, sketches, uncovers new graves and mummies and burial grounds, but none of the importance of his discovery of the dead desert city of Loulan, for which he is best known. A charming and easy read and greatly enhanced by Hedin's wonderful personal sketches.

The volume would have benefited from a decent map showing in clearer type the routes and sites visited and travelled but the inclusion of several black & white photographs from this expedition was an unexpected bonus in a paperback.

Sven Hedin's reputation waned in later life due to his political sympathies during WWII, hints of which are revealed in the work when some of his local workers disappoint him by slacking off and lying, but one can't help but think about what sort of man faces the Taklamakan without a grain of fear but rather reveled in the challenges and discoveries that lay around the corner.

[jma · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting explanation of how the lake, Lop Nor, can move. Also, an early description of the Taklamakan mummies. A sad side note is that this area is now the PRC's nuclear testing ground.... 8(

[Ryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting glimpse into one of the last great treks into the unknown during the dying days of the age of exploration.