View of Lake Nasser as seen from the Abu Simbel area in Aswan, Upper Egypt, with arid sandstone terrain and tree branches framing the scene. Lake Nasser is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, formed by the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1970s and stretching over 500 km along the Nile Valley. The lake is closely associated with the relocation of the Abu Simbel temples, a major UNESCO World Heritage engineering and preservation effort.