Lake with pink water. Pink Lake - ruby ​​of Senegal. Hutt Lagoon, Australia

There is a lake in Senegal that is bright pink. It was as if potassium permanganate had been poured into it. The water here is so salty that only one type of microorganism can survive in it - they give this color. Days on end, standing up to your neck in water, local residents they scoop salt from the bottom of the lake and pour it into boats. The work is hard labor, but by African standards it is paid tolerably.

(Total 14 photos)

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1. Amazingly colored water and boats, boats... They completely cover a two-kilometer coastline Pink Lake, or Lake Retba, is what it is called in the language of the Wolof people, Senegal's largest ethnic group.

3. What is now called Lake Retba was once a lagoon. But the Atlantic surf gradually washed in the sand, and eventually the channel connecting the lagoon with the ocean was filled up. For a long time, Retba remained an unremarkable salt lake. But in the 70s of the last century, a series of droughts hit Senegal, the Retba became very shallow and the extraction of salt, which lay in a thick layer at the bottom, became quite profitable.

4. Nowadays people work, standing shoulder-deep in water; twenty years ago they didn’t swim on the Pink Lake, but walked - the water in it was waist-deep. But by extracting about twenty-five thousand tons of salt a year, people are rapidly deepening the lake. In some places its bottom dropped quite significantly - by three meters or more.

5. The water in the lake acquired a pink tint thanks to microorganisms that can exist in a saturated salt solution. Apart from them, there is no other organic life in the Retba - for algae, not to mention fish, such a concentration of salt is destructive. It is almost one and a half times higher here than in the Dead Sea - three hundred and eighty grams per liter...

6. Microbiologist Bernard Oliver decided to scientifically explain the reason for this unusual color of water. The lake is inhabited by the microorganism Dunaliella salina, which, when absorbing sunlight, releases pigment

7. Due to the deepening of the bottom, it will soon be impossible to extract salt in the old old-fashioned way, and the Senegalese authorities will be faced with the problem of employing the army of miners and traders feeding around the lake. But for now, every morning, dozens of half-naked men, taking simple equipment, swim out to the middle of the lake, anchor the boat and climb into the incredibly salty water...

8. A saline solution of such a concentration can, in just half an hour, corrode the skin to such an extent that poorly healing ulcers form on it. Therefore, before getting into the boat, miners rub themselves with oil. It is obtained from the fruits of the tallow tree, scientifically it is called butyrosperma Parka... It is this oil that makes their bodies shine in the sun...

9. The salt at the bottom is first loosened, then, blindly, placed into the basket under water. From the basket, after allowing excess water to drain, it is reloaded into a boat... It seems that under such a weight the vessel should sink - but the dense salt solution reliably keeps it afloat. The main thing is not to forget to scoop the salt water out of the boat from time to time. To fill such a boat with salt - here it is called a pirogue - it takes a good worker three hours. During a working day, he must deliver three pirogues to the shore.

10. Men extract salt from the bottom of the lake... This is where their participation in the process ends - all further operations are performed by women, often very young, almost girls... They drag the salt in plastic basins to the shore and dump it there to dry. This work is, perhaps, no easier than men’s - a full basin weighs twenty to twenty-five kilograms... But in Africa, few people are concerned with the issues of protecting women’s and children’s labor...

11. Freshly mined salt is grayish in color. Therefore, after letting it dry, the women wash and sort it out to remove silt and sand... From small hills, each of which has a sign with the name of the owner stuck in it, the purified salt is poured into common heaps, a three-kilometer ridge stretching along the shore of the Pink Lake... It is in them for a year or two waits for wholesale buyers - during this time the salt, under the rays of the tropical sun, has time to fade and become completely white. The salt that is mined here using such primitive methods is exported to African countries and, as an exotic product, even to Europe. The Senegalese themselves are content with salt obtained industrially from sea water.

12. Wholesalers pay about thirty cents for a fifty-kilogram bag. The pie holds approximately five hundred kilograms. It turns out that for a day of hard labor the worker receives only nine dollars. But by African standards this is good money. Otherwise, migrant workers from neighboring countries- Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Upper Volta... They usually don’t stay here longer than two or three years. Otherwise you can become disabled. The Senegalese themselves look down on visiting workers. They make a living with more “skilled” work - buying and reselling salt, and as guides and bodyguards they accompany Europeans who come to see the miracle of nature - a lake whose water seems to be stained with blood...

13. Curious tourists also try to look into the village where salt miners live. It is located right next to the shore. When asked what this place is called, the residents answer: “No way, just a village”... At least three thousand people live here. There are even cars on the street that are old, like almost all cars in this country.

14. Workers build their dwellings from available materials - reeds growing nearby, plastic film, old tires... To call such a building a “shack” means to flatter it greatly. However, in the local climate, nothing more capital is required - the houses are designed to protect their inhabitants not from the cold, but from the sun and, at the end of summer - beginning of autumn, heavy rains...

The same car tires are used instead of well logs - there are four such wells in the village. In Europe, this muddy, salty-tasting water would probably not be used even for technical needs, but here they drink and cook food with it - there is no other way. You can hardly see any grazing goats around the village, although Senegalese peasants breed a lot of them. Beans and corn are the main food of salt miners...

The conditions in which African guest workers live can only be described as terrible. But the inhabitants of these shacks themselves treat the squalor that surrounds them as something completely normal. They didn’t come here to live, but to work - from morning to night to extract salt from the Pink Lake, which these strange Europeans admire so much.

In former times, Lake Retba was a lagoon that was connected to the ocean by a narrow channel. But the Atlantic surf, gradually washing up the sand, filled the channel, and the lagoon turned into a rather deep salt lake. In the 1970s, Senegal experienced a period of drought, as a result of which the reservoir became very shallow.
That’s when Lake Retba acquired its unusual hue. The reason for the unique color of the water is that the lake is home to cyanobacteria - the oldest microorganisms that appeared on Earth 3.5 billion years ago. The surprising thing is that besides them, there is no other organic life in this saturated salt solution. The salt concentration in Lake Retba is almost 1.5 times higher than in the Dead Sea - 380 grams per liter. In the Pink Lake, like the Dead Sea, it is very difficult to drown. You can calmly float on the surface of the water while reading a book or newspaper.

The color of the Senegalese lake water can vary from light pink to brown. The color saturation depends on the time of day, on cloudiness, and especially on the wind, since in strong winds the cyanobacterium is activated and produces more enzyme, which turns the water pink.

The unusual lake lies northeast of the Cape Verde Peninsula, at the extreme southern tip of which is the city of Dakar. Get to international Airport Dakar is only possible with a transfer; there are no direct flights from Russia and Ukraine. Flight options include Iberia via Madrid, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, Air France via Paris, Alitalia via Milan and North African carriers: Royal Air Maroc via Casablanca, Air Algerie via Algeria and Tunisair via Tunisia.

The two-kilometer shoreline of Lake Retba is densely strewn with flat-bottomed boats, very similar to Russian ones. But they don’t fish with them, don’t travel to the neighboring village, and don’t carry hay. On Pink Lake, boats are used only for salt extraction.

Today people extract salt while standing up to their necks in water; 20 years ago they moved around the lake without swimming equipment - the water level in it reached their waists. And due to the extraction of huge amounts of salt (about 25 thousand tons per year), the depth of the lake is rapidly increasing.

Every morning, dozens of local men, taking the necessary equipment, swim to the middle of the lake and climb into the very salty water. They break up the salt deposits at the bottom of the reservoir with special hooks, and then scoop up the salt with shovels and load them into boats. A high concentration of saline solution can corrode the skin in just a few tens of minutes, resulting in the formation of hard-to-heal ulcers on the body. To prevent this, miners, before boarding the boat, rub themselves with shea butter, which is extracted from the fruit of the tallow tree.

When a pirogue full of salt moored to the shore, the men’s mission ends there – the women unload the salt from the boats. They carry basins on their heads loaded with wet salt, weighing more than 25 kg, and dump it on the shore of the lake to dry. Initially, salt extracted from a reservoir is dark gray in color, but under the influence of tropical sunlight it gradually begins to turn white. Each pile of salt contains a sign indicating the owner's number. Here she can wait for wholesale buyers for a year or two.
The salt that is mined here is exported to African countries and, as an exotic product, even to Europe. Basically, the inhabitants of Senegal are content with salt, which they obtained from sea water. But sometimes in local restaurants They serve fish baked in salt from Lake Retba.

The workers live here, on the shores of Pink Lake, in a small village, in shacks built from scrap materials: plastic film, reeds, sheet iron and old car tires. They come here to work from neighboring African countries and from Senegalese provinces, but stay for no more than a few years due to harsh working conditions. However, by the standards of this country they earn good money.

Due to active salt mining, Lake Retba is becoming shallower every year. Over the past ten years, the area of ​​the Senegalese lake has decreased almost three times, and if measures are not taken in the near future to protect this natural object, it may disappear from the face of the earth forever.

There are many attractions in Crimea. The most famous of them are: the Grand Canyon, Mount Ai-Petri and bird home. However, there are others on this peninsula that are very interesting, but, unfortunately, few Famous places. The category of such attractions includes Pink Lake. In Crimea it is the saltiest.

Where is it located?

This interesting tourist attraction is located on the territory of Cape Opuk, approximately 30 km from Kerch. Once upon a time there was a military training ground in this place. But not so long ago Opuksky was created here nature reserve. The area of ​​this reserve is not too large. But at the same time, simply living on its territory great amount various kinds of rare birds. Opuk was removed from the command of the military training ground in 1998. At the moment, it includes not only this cape itself, but also part of the coastal territory, as well as outcrops standing in the sea, called “Ship Rocks” for their unusual shape.

The Pink Lake itself in Crimea is located on Opuk in close proximity to the Black Sea. This body of water is separated from it only by a not too wide sandy embankment.

A little history

Story ( bcnjhbz) near the Pink Lake in Crimea is quite interesting. It belongs to the group of volcanic ones. That is, it was formed a very, very long time ago. In fact, even today its bottom is a dormant volcano. Not so long ago, Pink Lake was part of the Black Sea. However, later the surf brought a lot of sand here. Because of this, an embankment-lintel was formed.

Short description

So, we found out where Pink Lake is in Crimea. It is located near Kerch. Its official name is Koyashskoe. This unusual body of water is quite large in size. total area it is about 5 hectares. The lake reaches 4 km in length and 2 km in width. You will not be able to swim in this reservoir. Its depth in spring reaches only 1 meter. By autumn, the lake dries up completely. This reservoir is actually very salty. Therefore, practically no living creatures are found in it. The salt concentration in it reaches 350 grams per liter. This is definitely a lot. Koyashskoye is the saltiest body of water on the Crimean peninsula.

The mud in this lake is healing. They are mined and supplied for the treatment of vacationers to local sanatoriums. You won't be able to swim in this lake. However, you can smear yourself with mud on the shore. There is enough water to wash them off.

Why pink?

The main feature of this reservoir that attracts tourists to it is, of course, not its shallow depth or high salt content. Of course, it was not for nothing that the lake was called pink. The water in it really has this color. This body of water looks especially beautiful at sunset. In fact, the name Koyashskoye itself translates as “the lake in which the sun hides.”

In spring, the water in this reservoir has an ugly brown-brown dirty color. However, already in June, with an increase in air temperature, its shade begins to change rapidly. This is primarily due to the vital activity of algae breeding in the lake Dunaliella Salina.The beta-carotene it produces gives the water a delicate, juicy pink hue.

When is the best time to go?

In spring, the water in Lake Koyashsky is not very beautiful. But you can admire the surroundings of this reservoir in April-May. At this time, a huge number of tulips bloom along the shores of the lake. They almost cover the local hills with a carpet.

In order toappreciate beautyhimselfPink lake in Crimea, it’s worth coming here in mid-late summer. It is during this period that algae develop most actively, and the water acquires a truly beautiful shade.

Closer to autumn, the lake, as already mentioned, dries up. But even at this time it looks quite impressive. The fact is that the beta-carotene contained in its water turns salt pink.

Later, in the fall, due to rains, the lake begins to fill with water again. At this time of year, the layer in its bowl is not too large - about 2 cm. But because of it, the lake looks like a huge clear mirror. Tourists walking along the pond at this time of year feel like they are floating in the air due to the reflecting clouds.

How to get to Pink Lake in Crimea?

Get to this unusual natural siteon the peninsula you can follow the Feodosia - Kerch highway. At the sign "Marfovo-Marevka",not reaching about 20 km to the city,you need to turn towards the Black Sea. The road ahead will not be very good. You should be prepared for this. Having reached the village of Maryevka, you need to turn straight towards the coast onto a country road. It may not be possible to drive through it in a regular car, as it is heavily rutted. Some part of the journey will most likely have to be covered on foot. But get to the cape by jeepThe dough will turn out without any problems.

Opuk Nature Reserve

Where is the Pink Lake in Crimea located specifically -It's clear. But it’s still not worth going on an excursion to see him spontaneously.Illegal entry into the reserve territoryat Cape Opukprohibited. In order to get into the reserve, you needat firstobtain a pass by first submitting an application to its administration. Hereshouldindicate the purpose of the visit, the number of people wishing to see the cape and their age.You don't need to travel anywhere to apply. Do itYou can, for example, via the Internet. The reserve has its own VKontakte group.

Other Pink Lakes of Crimea

Koyashskoye actually looks very beautiful. However, in Crimea there are other salt lakes of the same pleasant color. In this case, the effect is caused by the same algae. Lakes such as Krasnoi and Staroye, for example, have a pink tint on the peninsula.

Both bodies of water are located on the territoryKrasnoperekopsk City Councilin the west of the peninsula. These lakes also look very impressive.

African nature is sometimes extremely amazing, which is why more and more tourists are trying to get to this continent.

Another miracle is the Pink Lake Retba, located near the capital of Senegal. From Cape Verde you should head northeast to get to this place.

The reservoir got its name because of its unusual and amazing color, which is actually pink with a hint of milk. The lake was named so by local residents belonging to the Wolof people.

Its area is small - 3 square kilometers, while maximum depth only 3 meters in some places.

Pink lake Retba in Senegal

Once upon a time, on the site of the Pink Lake there was a lagoon connected to Atlantic Ocean, only the waters constantly washed up the sand, which led to the disappearance of the channel. As a result, it appeared salt Lake with quite a decent depth.

However, already in the 70s of the 20th century, droughts began in the country, which led to a constant and significant decrease in the volume of the reservoir, so Pink Lake Retba became shallow over time, while the concentration of salts in the water increased.

Then the lake acquired its color, thanks to which it has unusual name and attracts travelers from all over the world. There are a couple of reasons why the color is this way:

• increased salinity;
• microorganisms.

The salt in the water has such a high concentration that its indicator exceeds this parameter of the Dead Sea by one and a half times and is 380 g/liter. In this regard, any swimmer stays perfectly on the surface; it is almost impossible to drown in Pink Lake Retba; relaxation on the water is truly relaxing and relaxing.

Naturally, such a huge salinity of the reservoir has led to the fact that few inhabitants can survive in these conditions, so the main inhabitants are the oldest cyanobacteria - Dunaliella salina, which have lived on the planet for several billion years. Thanks to them, the color of the water is so extraordinary.

At the same time, Pink Lake is not always the same color; the color is influenced by:

• Times of Day;
• cloudiness;
• wind.

It is during windy weather that microorganisms are most active, and then they produce greatest number pink enzyme. In general, the color palette can range from light pink to rich brown.

The entire coastline of this colorful lake is filled with small boats, which are not intended for swimming or fishing, but for the main local activity - salt mining.

If a couple of decades ago salt miners worked standing in water only up to their waists, now the main depth is up to their necks. This increase in the depth of the reservoir is due to the fact that the volumes of salt produced are extremely large - more than 20 tons per year.

This process of obtaining this important product is simple - every day local men go to Pink Lake, in its very center they plunge into the water with all the equipment. Since the salt has accumulated at the bottom, it is beaten off with hooks, taken out of the liquid with shovels and placed in the boat. All this is done by touch, because the head is always above the surface.

This type of fishing is dangerous because salty water corrodes the skin, forming wounds that heal long time. The only way to protect yourself from this is with fat, so miners cover themselves with shea butter before diving.

Men's work consists of directly extracting salt from the lake, everything else is done by women, who become involved in the process from unloading the filled boat.

Salt is transported from the reservoir on the head; for this, about 25 kilograms of wet product are placed in containers, which are carried in this way to a drying place on the coast.

The color of the salt changes during processing:

• dark gray when first mined;
• whiter when exposed to sunlight.

The salt remains lying on the shore in heaps until wholesale buyers come for it, until this moment a year can pass. more. This product is exported mainly to the countries of the Dark Continent, sometimes it is sent to Europe, where it is considered exotic.

Local Africans rarely use lake salt; most often they use sea salt in everyday life, but in restaurants they sometimes bake fish in it.

The workers who mine the salt live right on the shore of the lake; there is a small village for them, in which frail dwellings are built from available materials with their own hands. Usually residents of not only but also other African countries work here, because they pay good money for such work. But the conditions are very difficult, so earnings usually last only a few years.

For visiting tourists who want to look at the pink pond, there are several hotels here. To make your vacation memorable, it is recommended:

• take a boat ride on the pink surface of the water;
• go on a jeep tour around the lake;
• buy a few souvenirs sold locally.

A pink lake is a lake that has a reddish or pink color due to the presence of algae that produce carotenoids (organic pigments). These include algae such as Dunaliella salina, which is a type of halophile green microalgae that lives in particularly salty conditions. sea ​​water. Thanks to their pink color, these lakes are becoming increasingly popular among tourists and photographers from all over the world.

This body of water is located on the edge of Middle Island, which is part of the Research archipelago, which stretches for tens of kilometers along south coast Western Australia. The peculiarity of the lake is its bright pink color. The color of the water is constant and does not change if water is poured into a container. The length of the lake is about 600 meters. It is separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land consisting of sand dunes covered with vegetation.

People first discovered the unusual lake in 1802. Then the British navigator Matthew Flinders decided to stop on the island on his way to Sydney. What a surprise the traveler was when, among the dense forests of the island, he came across a pink pond. The lake is surrounded by white salt deposits and dense forests of tea and eucalyptus trees. In the north sand dunes separate the lake from the Southern Ocean.

The lake is very popular and tourists strive to get there, even passengers on planes flying over the lake take photographs of this miracle of nature.

2. Retba, Senegal

Lake Retba or Pink Lake is located east of the peninsula Cape Verde(Cap Vert) in Senegal, northeast of Dakar, the capital of Senegal. It got its name because of the color of the water in which the algae species Dunaliella salina grows.

The color is especially noticeable during the dry season. The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily.

There is a small salt mining business on the lake. Many salt workers work 6-7 hours a day in the lake, which contains about 40% salt. To protect their skin, they rub “Beurre de Karité” (Shea Butter, obtained from shea nuts collected from the shea tree) into it, which softens the skin and prevents tissue damage. What is called Lake Retba these days, when- that was a lagoon. But the Atlantic surf gradually washed in the sand, and eventually the channel connecting the lagoon with the ocean was filled up. For a long time, Retba remained an unremarkable salt lake.

But in the 70s of the last century, a series of droughts hit Senegal, the Retba became very shallow and the extraction of salt, which lay in a thick layer at the bottom, became quite profitable. At the same time, the water in the lake acquired a pink tint thanks to microorganisms that can exist in a saturated saline solution.

Amazingly colored water and charming boats completely cover the two-kilometer coastline of the Pink Lake, or Lake Retba, as it is called in the language of the Wolof people, the largest ethnic group in Senegal.

Apart from them, there is no other organic life in the Retba - for algae, not to mention fish, such a concentration of salt is destructive. It is almost one and a half times higher here than in the Dead Sea - three hundred and eighty grams per liter!

3. Torrevieja Salt Lake (Alina de Torrevieja), Spain

Salt Lake Torrevieja and La Mata Salt Lake are salt lakes surrounding Torrevieja, a seaside town in southeastern Spain. The microclimate created by the largest salt lakes in Europe - Torrevieja and La Mata, is declared one of the healthiest in Europe, according to - World Organization healthcare.

Alina de Torrevieja and La Salina de La Mata are the largest salt lakes in Europe.

A special type of algae grows in the water, which gives the water a pink tint. The pink color of Lake Torrevieja, caused by the presence of algae and salt, gives it a "science fiction" appearance. Just like in the Dead Sea in Israel, here you can also just lie on the surface of the water. In addition, this will be of great benefit for the prevention and treatment of skin and lung diseases.

At the other end of the lake, salt is mined and exported to different countries. You can see a huge number of bird species near the lake.

4. Hutt Lagoon, Australia

Hutt Lagoon is shown on the left side, and Indian Ocean- on the right.

Hutt Lagoon is an elongated salt lake located off the coast north of the Hutt River estuary in the mid-west of Western Australia. It is located in the dunes adjacent to the coast.

Hutt Lagoon was once the mouth of the 60km (37 mi) Hutt River, but at some point in the prehistoric past, the river changed course and the estuary remained isolated from both the river and the sea.

The city of Gregory is located between the ocean and the southern shores of the lake. The road between Northampton and Kalbarri, called George Gray Drive, runs along western edge lakes.

The lake acquired this color thanks to the abundance of the same algae that produce beta-carotene.

This lagoon is home to the world's largest microalgae farm. The total area of ​​small artificial ponds in which Dunaliella salina is bred is 250 hectares.

The lake is 14 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide.

Hutt Lagoon is a salty pink lake, having a red or pink hue due to the presence of Dunaliella saline in the water. This type of algae produces carotenoids, which are a source of beta carotene, a food coloring and a source of vitamin A.

5. Lake Masazirgol, Azerbaijan

Lake Masazir is a salt lake in the Karadag region, near Baku, Azerbaijan. The total area of ​​the lake is 10 square kilometers. The ionic composition of water contains large volumes of chloride and sulfate.

Workers load salt into horse-drawn carts

In 2010, a plant was opened here to produce two MFAs of Azeri salt. The estimated reserve of salt that can be extracted is 1,735 million tons. It can be extracted both in a liquid state (from water) and in a solid state.

Due to the increased sulfate content, the water in the lake is pink

This pink lake located in British Columbia, Canada is quite unusual, little known and possibly unique. The water in this lake is not at all salty and does not contain algae, but it is still pink in color. The photo shows pink water flowing into the lake. The color of the water is due to the unique combination of rocks in this area (rock dust from the glacier).

Pink Lake Quirading is located 11 kilometers east of Quirading (Western Australia). The Bruce Rock Highway passes through it.

The local population considers Pink Lake natural miracle. At some times, one side of the lake turns dark pink while the other remains pale pink.

Pink Lake is a salt lake in the Goldfields-Esperance region, western Australia. It is located approximately 3 kilometers west of Esperance and is connected to the east by motorway south coast(South Coast Highway).

The lake is not always pink, but the distinctive color of the water, when the lake takes on a pink tint, is the result of the activity of the green algae Dunaliella salina, as well as a high concentration of saltwater shrimp. The lake has been designated as Important Bird Habitat by the international organization for the protection of birds and their habitat conservation.

And another miracle of nature: Field of Pink Lakes, Australia

This unusual landscape was captured from an airplane in western Australia. This field of pink lakes is located somewhere between Esperance and Caiguna.

There are hundreds of small pink lakes throughout the course, each with its own unique shade of pink. This is due to the fact that the concentration of algae and salt in each lake is different from all the others.

15.04.2013