{{Short description|Lake in Murmansk, Russia}} {{For|the large glacial lake in Imatra, Finland|Saimaa}} {{For|the village on Kola Peninsula|Imandra, Murmansk Oblast}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Lake Imandra | image = File:Jeziorko Imandra i Chibiny.JPG | caption = | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = Kola Peninsula, Murmansk Oblast | coords = {{coord|67|40|N|33|00|E|region:RU_type:waterbody_scale:2000000|display=inline,title}} | pushpin_map = Russia Murmansk Oblast#Russia | type = | inflow = | outflow = Niva River | catchment = | basin_countries = Russia | length = | width = | area = {{convert|876|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} | depth = | max-depth = {{convert|67|m|ft|abbr=on}} | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = {{convert|127|m|ft|abbr=on}} | islands = Erm Island | cities = | frozen = Winter }} '''Imandra''' ({{langx|sms|Âʹvverjäuʹrr}}{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}, Russian: Имандра, Finnish: ''Imantero'') is a lake in the south-western part of the Kola Peninsula in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, slightly beyond the Arctic Circle. It is located 127 m above sea level; its area is about 876&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, maximum depth is 67 m. The shape of the shore line is complicated. There are a number of islands and the largest one, Erm Island measures 26&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>. There are three principal parts of the lake connected by narrow straits: Greater Imandra (Большая Имандра) or Khibinskaya Imandra in the north (area 328&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, length about 55&nbsp;km, width 3–5&nbsp;km), Ekostrovskaya Imandra in the centre (area 351&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), and Babinskaya Imandra in the west (area 133&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>). The lake drains into the Kandalaksha Gulf of the White Sea by the Niva River. The lake is known for the transparency of its water and its abundance of fish.

== Towns on or near the lake== The town of Monchegorsk, located on the Monche-Guba inlet in the north-western part of the lake, is known as a centre of winter sports. During the summer, many residents enjoy boating on the lake, while in winter the frozen lake is popular with cross-country skiers.

Apatity is located near the eastern shore of the lake, and Polyarnye Zori are on the Niva River a few kilometers below its outflow from the lake.

<gallery class="center"> File:Chibini_massif_and_lake_imandra.jpg|View on lake Imandra from the Khibiny Mountains File:Мончегорск с высоты.jpg|A section of the Monche Guba in Monchegorsk (running across the photo from right to left) File:Lake Imandra NASA.jpg|Satellite image </gallery>

== Navigation == Presently, Lake Imandra is only used by local residents for recreational boating.

However, for several years in the 1930s, before the railway branch between Monchegorsk and the Leningrad-Murmansk mainline was built, Monchegorsk was connected to the rest of the country in summer by boat across Lake Imandra. Ferries from Monchegorsk would dock in Tik-Guba (today's Apatity), on the main rail line.<ref>M.P. Ilyina, "[http://www.sakharov-center.ru/asfcd/auth/?t=page&num=8895 Этого забыть нельзя]" (This cannot be forgotten), in "Спецпереселенцы в Хибинах : Спецпереселенцы и заключенные в истории освоения Хибин : (книга воспоминаний)" ('''Special settlers' in the Khibins: Special settlers and convicts in the history of the developments of the Khibins''). The Khibiny Branch of the Memorial Society, Apatity, 1997, p. 115</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

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Imandra Category:Niva basin