Ansoo Lake is situated in Manoor Valley, Kaghan Valley Mansehra District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located near Malika Parbat in the Himalayan range at the altitude of 4,245 meters.
The name "Ansoo" comes from its tear-like shape (the Urdu word Ansoo means teardrop). The lake also resembles a human eye with a central ice island resembling the iris and a ridge resembling an eyebrow, which becomes even more prominent when ice melts on the "eyebrow" during the summer. This ridge was partially destroyed in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
The lake is said to have been discovered in 1993 by Pakistan Air Force pilots who were flying low in the area. Earlier, the lake was not even known to the locals.
There is no place to stay at Ansoo Lake. Some people may camp on the top of extremely cold and windy mountains but it is very risky and even the locals do not recommend this.
This lake can be reached by two different routes. First one is short but steeper trek from Saiful Mulook Lake. It takes more than 7 hours for a round trip to Ansoo lake starting from lake Saiful Mulook. The trek is covered with snow in most parts of the year. The best time to trek is from July 10 to August 15. The optimal time to set off for the lake from Saiful Mulook is around 06:00 in the morning, in order to return before sunset. Horses and guides can also be hired from the Lake Saiful Mulook.
It takes seven to nine hours of trek for a round trip from Lake Saif-ul-Malook to Ansoo Lake. This trek can be separated into two halves. The first part is through a valley alongside a river to the base camp of Malika Parbat. The second steeper part is from the base camp of Malika Parbat to Ansoo Lake.
