Breathtaking mirage in the deserts of Xinjiang, China

Digital Originals

Breathtaking mirage in the deserts of Xinjiang

The breathtaking mirage of a lake surface appeared Sunday in the vast desert of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Tourists who witnessed the natural event were awed.

The breathtaking mirage of a lake surface appeared Sunday in the vast desert of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

A rippling lake with rolling waves on the surface appeared in the barren desert on the rim of the Flaming Mountains in Shanshan County.

Many tourists ascended to a viewing platform to appreciate the stunning scene.

“Mirage is very magical for us. We’ve considered it as a miraculous scene since we were children. We want to feel it at close range. We’ve brought our children here to let them get familiar with the nature as well as the special landscape of Xinjiang,” said Zheng Haiyan, a tourist from Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Mirage is a natural phenomenon in which light rays penetrating air layers of different density are reflected to form image of objects located far away.

A mirage usually appears in the desert in southern Xinjiang from May to October, especially when the temperature is high.