At about 3,812 metres its surface is the highest in the world to carry commercial shipping
Steamers were carried up in pieces by mule and rail in the 19th century
Geography · Records & extremes
Lake Titicaca
surface at about 3,812 m above sea level
The world's highest navigable lake, 3,812 m — shared by Peru and Bolivia in the Altiplano
A lake of some 8,400 square kilometres on the Altiplano between Peru and Bolivia, its surface about 3,812 metres above sea level, which makes it the highest lake in the world carrying commercial shipping. It is the largest lake in South America by volume, the cradle of Inca origin legend, and home to the Uros, who live on floating islands woven from totora reed.
How to spot them
- ▸The highest navigable lake in the world, split between two Andean republics
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Altiplano', 'Uros', 'totora', 'Isla del Sol', 'Manco Capac', 'Desaguadero'
- ▸Puno on one shore, Copacabana on the other; the border runs through the water
- ▸Home to a giant aquatic frog and to reed boats that inspired transatlantic raft voyages
Key facts
The Uros people live on floating islands woven from totora reed, adding new layers as the old rot
About 80 islands near Puno
Inca legend says the sun god sent Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo out of it to found Cusco
The Isla del Sol, on the Bolivian side, is the traditional spot
Its only outflow, the Desaguadero, runs south to the shrinking Lake Poopo
Only about five per cent of its water leaves that way; the rest evaporates
It is home to a giant, baggy-skinned aquatic frog that never leaves the water
Telmatobius culeus, the Titicaca water frog
Thor Heyerdahl had its reed boatbuilders construct the craft he sailed across the Atlantic in 1970 (1970)
Ra II, built by Aymara boatmen from the lake
The ruins of Tiwanaku, with the Gateway of the Sun, stand on its southern plain
A pre-Inca capital, World Heritage listed in 2000
It is the largest lake in South America by volume, though a Venezuelan basin is bigger in area
Lake Maracaibo is larger but open to the sea
Quick-fire facts
- •Surface about 3,812 m above sea level; area roughly 8,400 km²; maximum depth about 280 m
- •Shared between Peru (west) and Bolivia (east); Puno and Copacabana are the main lake towns
- •The largest lake in South America by volume; Maracaibo is larger by area but is a tidal inlet
- •It is fed by five main river systems and drains only through the Desaguadero
- •The Uros build and live on floating totora-reed islands
- •Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna carry Inca ruins and origin legends
- •Tiwanaku, a pre-Inca ceremonial centre near the southern shore, was World Heritage listed in 2000
- •Its endemic Titicaca water frog is critically endangered
- •The name is usually glossed from Aymara as something like 'rock puma'
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Lake Titicaca