Pink Lake Retba in Senegal (West Africa): photos, videos. Two pink lakes that always confuse the Pink Sea
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. For days on end, standing up to their necks in water, local residents 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.
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1. Amazingly colored water and boats, boats... They 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.
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, 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, lay up the boat and climb into the incredible salt 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, guest workers from neighboring countries - Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Upper Volta - would not come to Lake Retba... They usually do not 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.
Be sure to check out the Pink Lake, also known as Retba. The color of the water in it resembles either potassium permanganate or a strawberry cocktail. This incredible natural formation features natural water.
It is not surprising that the lake is considered one of the main ones. What is its secret?
The mystery of rose water
The water of Lake Retba is very salty. For most microorganisms, the salt level is lethal, and only one species can survive in it. It is these creatures that give the water its beautiful color. The intensity of the shade can vary from delicate pinkish to dark brown, everything is determined by the angle of incidence of the sun's rays and weather conditions. For example, during the dry season, the Pink Lake in Senegal becomes incredibly bright, especially attracting a large number of tourists. The magical hue of the water, combined with the many boats gliding along the surface of the lake, creates a completely surreal picture.
Where is it located?
You can look at Pink Lake off the Atlantic coast. It is located near Dakar, the capital of the country.
Just thirty kilometers from the city, and you are there. From the most western point The peninsula is also not far here - twenty kilometers to the peninsula Cape Verde. The area of the amazing reservoir is small (three square kilometers), and its deepest place is three meters. There is a village on the shore, whose workers and traders are fed by the Pink Lake. Photos of this place often illustrate the work of local residents. They stand up to their necks in water and manually scoop salt from the bottom. This is very hard work, but it pays well. Therefore, flat boats cover the entire coastline every day.
Retba's story
There was once a lagoon here, connected to the Atlantic Ocean. The surf brought sand from year to year, and the channel was gradually filled with it. In the 70s, a drought hit these places, after which the Retba became shallow, making salt production quite accessible.
The water is gradually returning, and workers are standing in it up to their shoulders, but just twenty years ago the level here was at most waist-deep. The depth of the lake is also increasing because people are extracting about twenty-five thousand tons of salt, gradually scooping up the bottom. Apart from microorganisms called dunaliella, which give the water a special hue with its pigment, no other organisms, fish or plants live here. The Pink Lake is even more deadly for all living things than the famous Dead Sea - there is one and a half times more salt here. It is impossible to drown here: dense water holds objects on the surface. Even boats heavily laden with loot do not sink. A boat can be filled in three hours of hard work, and each worker must repeat this operation three times a day. To prevent salt of such concentration from corroding the skin, workers rub themselves with special oil from the fruits of the tallow tree. Otherwise, painful ulcers will appear on the skin within half an hour. So it’s better to watch the lake from the outside.
Lake Retba or Las Rose in Senegal is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful lakes the color of potassium permanganate. Located northeast of Dakar, the capital of Sinegal. The lake got its name in honor of special algae. The pink color is especially noticeable during the dry season. In addition, Lake Retba is known for its high salt content, which, like the Dead Sea, easily allows it to float on its surface. The main source of income for local residents is salt mining on Lake Retba. Workers forced to spend 6-7 hours in water containing about 40% salt rub shea butter into their skin to prevent tissue damage.
Pink Lake Hillier in Australia
On the edge of the Middle Island - the largest island of the Recherche Archipelago in Western Australia a fabulous pink lake is located at ease, surrounded by secrets and legends. The magical pond was discovered in 1812. A special feature of Lake Hiller is its unusual, permanent bright pink color. In the 50s of the twentieth century, scientists tried to discover Red algae, which turns lakes pink. The attempt was unsuccessful, so the color still remains a mystery. The length of the lake is only 600 meters. A narrow strip of white sand, small deposits of white salt and dense eucalyptus forests separate the lake from the ocean.
Salt lake Torrevieja in Spain
Rich pink salt lakes - Torrevieja and La Mata - surround a seaside town in southern Spain. According to World Organization health care, the area of these lakes is the most favorable for the life and health of the population and tourists. Swimming in lakes whose density is not inferior to Dead Sea, brings great benefits for the prevention and treatment of skin and pulmonary diseases. Salt is also mined for export on the lakes.
Dusty Rose Lake in Canada
A unique pale pink lake is located in British Columbia, Canada. The lake is little known and quite mysterious. The water in the lake is not salty at all, does not contain red algae, but is pink. The color of the water is explained by the amazing combination of rock dust from the glacier. Thousands of tourists have chosen this magical place for their travels.
Pink lake in Crimea
It's not just the Wild West that has pink lakes. In Crimea, it turns out, there is also a similar unique reservoir. Lake Koyashskoe near Cape Opuk in the Kerch steppe takes on a rich shade of rose several times a year. According to scientists, this is due to bacteria that acquire a reddish tint in the heat, the crustacean Artemia, as well as dunaliella (a single-celled algae). During the hot season, stones and plants here are covered with a salt film. The area of the lake is 500 hectares, and the depth does not exceed a meter. Lake Koyashskoye is the saltiest in Crimea. In addition, the reservoir is famous for its healing properties.
The ancient lands of the Dark Continent contain a lot natural wonders, one of which is a fantastic lake located near Cape Verde. This is Retba - the most interesting attraction of Senegal and one of the most colorful places on the planet.
Colorful in the truest sense of the word! The waters of the Pink Lake, as Retba is translated from the dialect of the Wolof ethnic group, shimmer under the sultry African sun with a whole palette of pink colors - from soft crimson to carmine scarlet. The bird's eye view of the reservoir is especially bizarre - a strawberry spot framed by the emerald greenery of the jungle - a truly bewitching landscape!
Pink Lake is a bright spot on the map of Africa
This amazing body of water is located in the Western part of the African continent, just thirty kilometers from the main city of Senegal - Dakar. A narrow strip of sand dunes separates Pink Lake from the mighty waters of the Atlantic. Two-kilometer coastline Retby is a truly picturesque canvas: a string of small boats on the purple surface of the water, the finest golden sand and snow-white hills of salt pyramids. The French-speaking population of the country gave the lake another name - Lac Rose.
History of the magical lake
It may come as a surprise, but the Retba was not always a lake. The pond was once part of Atlantic Ocean, a cozy lagoon separated from Big water narrow channel. The ocean surf and wind washed up the sand for centuries until the channel completely disappeared, forming a salt lake with an area of no more than three square kilometers.
Why is it this color? Until the 70s of the last century, Retba did not stand out in any way among ordinary salt lakes. But the worst drought in the history of Senegal caused the lake to become significantly shallower, opening access to the deepest salt deposits at the bottom of the reservoir. In those years, an extraordinary rainbow phenomenon appeared.
The mystery of rose water
How can we explain the unusual shade of Lac Rose? Everything is very simple, there is nothing mystical or supernatural here.
The amazing purple color of the water is due to myriads of microscopic organisms - cyanobacteria of the genus Dunaliellasalina, which chose Retba as their habitat.
It is the pigmentation of these ancient living creatures that tints the lake with the delightful color of flamingos and dawn. The coral hue of the water is also influenced by the abundance of fossil deposits of minerals and chlorine on the shore. The color of the lake is very heterogeneous and can change depending on various factors: the angle of incidence of sunlight on the lake surface, cloudiness and dry weather. The brightest and most intense pink color is characteristic of the dry season in Senegal - from May to November.
One of the saltiest bodies of water in the world
Dunaliellasalina is the only form of organic life that can exist in the concentrated salt solution of Lake Retba. The salt content in Lac Rose is more than 380 grams per liter, which is one and a half times higher than the specifications Dead Sea. The increased density of water makes swimming easier and prevents drowning, however, staying in pink waters for more than ten minutes is fraught with severe burns and non-healing ulcers on the surface of the skin.
Labor-intensive salt extraction
The rich salt deposits are the main source of income for the local population. On the coast of Pink Lake lies a small village of the Wolof people, whose inhabitants are all engaged in salt mining. This is very difficult work - male miners manually, standing shoulder-deep in water, scoop salt crystals from the lake bottom. In order to protect yourself from the corrosive solution, the skin is treated with shea butter. At the bottom of the lake, workers first blindly loosen the salt, and then fill large baskets with the powder and send them on boats to the shore.
Due to the high density of water, small flat-bottomed boats can hold up to half a ton of cargo, which significantly saves time on transportation. On the shore, women and girls are involved in the work process - the collected salt is dragged to the shore, washed to remove dirt and silt and left to dry. Subsequently, the salt from the bottom of Lac Ross goes to resellers and is used mainly for preserving seafood, and in some restaurants in Europe it is served as an exotic product.
Not only local residents are employed in salt mining; men from neighboring countries of the continent come here to work. A modest payment of $9 for a day of hard labor is considered quite acceptable in Africa. These “guest workers” build their temporary homes from scrap materials right on the banks of the Retba. Every year, up to 25 thousand tons of salt are removed from the bottom of the pink lake, which leads to a rapid deepening of the reservoir - previously the water in Lac Rose reached only the waist, and it was possible to move along it on foot.
Interesting information for travelers
Every year, thousands of tourists come to the pink waters of Retba, wanting to see and capture with their own eyes the extraordinary miracle of nature. For those who are just about to discover Senegal and its remarkable places, some nuances of traveling in the vicinity of the lake will be useful:
- Pink Lake is located just an hour's drive from Dakar. It is best to go to explore the beauties of Retba as part of an organized excursion route. But you can get to the place yourself by minibus, or by renting a car. For those who want to admire fabulous landscape at dawn or dusk there is a chain of small hotels nearby.
- Entertainment includes romantic boat rides on the pink surface of the lake, car rides along the picturesque coastline. For a small fee, tourists can get acquainted with all the intricacies of salt extraction and try their hand at this difficult task. Locals They are happy to take anyone interested in fishing.
- During the day, the lake repeatedly changes its hue - from elusive pink and rich purple to brownish cherry with orange notes in color, so it is best to admire the magical landscape several times during the day.
- Not long ago, the final stage of the famous Paris-Dakar race took place along the coast of Lac Rose.
- Not far from the pink lake there is an interesting turtle sanctuary.
Lake Retba – fantastic natural object, which is a must-visit when traveling through the expanses of hot Africa. The mesmerizing beauty of the pink surface in the light of day and in the first rays of the awakening sun will not leave connoisseurs of beauty indifferent. Tell us about your impressions of this delightful corner.
Our planet is teeming with many mystical, unknown, scary and unusual beautiful places. Red and pink lakes are named after the color of their waters. Most often they have shades of red: pink, crimson, scarlet and closer to orange. Many of them are dangerous and inspire feelings of fear and horror.
Scientists say that the lakes owe their color to the microorganisms that live in their waters.
The creepy Red Lake Natron in Tanzania turns all living things into stone
In Africa, on the border with Kenya, in Tanzania there is ominous lake"Narton." Everyone who touches him turns to stone. So far these are only careless birds.
Why do they become fossilized? It's simple: ideal alkalinity pH is from 9 to 10.5 and salt keeps the corpses in the condition that you see in the photo.
But the lake cannot be called dead - it is a haven for millions of pink flamingos. Birds come here to breed. This is an ideal habitat for them: predators avoid this lake, and blue-green algae with red pigments are good for food.
How to get to Lake Natron? From Kilimanjaro Airport to Arusha 50 km. And from Arusha it is another 240 km. Special tours There is no lake to this, but there is an item on the list of tours to the Oldoinyo-Lengai volcano: visiting Lake Natron. On your own, of course, it will be much more expensive. You can also see the red lake during a safari in National Park Serengeti National Park) or Great Rift Valley(Great Rift Valley).
Bloody Red Lagoon of Colorado in Bolivia
Another reddish lake, Laguna Colorado, is located in Bolivia, in the town of Eduardo Avaroa on the Altiplano. This is a state park with a salt lake. The color of the water is given by borax deposits and some algae.
The lake is inhabited by the same pink flamingos. Crowds of tourists from all over the world come to see these beautiful birds and the equally beautiful shallow lake.
How to get to Red Lagoon? You can get there from the towns of Tupiza or Uyuni by jeep (300 km). The place can be visited as part of the Andes tour.
Koyash mineral lake in Crimea
Koyashskoye Lake is located near the Borisovka resort, in the Opuk Bay, in the Cimmerian steppes.
To contemplate the beauty of the lake. Its rich pink color and fancy stone structures in salt crystals are worth coming to see in July-August. The water recedes and the salt comes out, settling on everything it meets on its way.
How to get there (get there)? From Feodosia, get to Borisovka and use your own transport along the dirt road. By public route from Kerch to Maryevka and then on foot 7 km.
Red salt lake Sasyk-Sivash in Crimea
And this is another lake on the Crimean peninsula, not far from the resort of Evpatoria. Lake Sasyk-Sivash is pink due to the evaporation of mineral salt. During evaporation, many carotenoid microalgae appear.
The healing properties of salt have attracted tourists for a long time. It has a high content of magnesium and potassium, bromine and calcium.
Another bizarre moment with Lake Sasyk-Sivash is the “boiling of the lake”. This miracle is understandable - it’s all due to underwater fountains (griffins).
How to get to Lake Sasyk-Sivash? You can take an electric train from Evpatoria to Saki. Then take a bus to Pribrezhnoye and walk 2 km. or by car.
The salty Chokraskoye lake is located not far from the village of Kurortnoye on Kerch Peninsula. It, like all the above, has the property of water turning pinkish-red. The reason for this is unicellular algae.
Tourists come here not only to gaze at the lake, but also to healing mud- get medical treatment.
How to get there? By bus from Kerch to the village of Kurortnoye and 2 km. on foot.
Pink lakes tend to predominate in Australia. There is a large concentration of these unusual water areas. Lake Hillier is located at the very large island Middle Island in Western Australia.
How to get here? The problem is that the island is not inhabited, and you can see it from the window of an airplane. Although Australian travel companies offer trips on sea ships.
Lake Retba in Senegal
The pink lake Retba is located near the capital of Dakar in Senegal.
Pink lake in Altai
Or rather, not one pink lake, but two. The first lake Bursol or Buturlinskoye is located in the Slavogorodsky district Altai Territory(Bursol village), 500 km. from Barnaul to the steppe. And the second is called Raspberry Lake, located 400 km away. from the capital of Altai, near the village of the same name Raspberry Lake.
These salty pink lakes are a great place to relax and prevent the treatment of many diseases. It is clear that the only industry here is salt mining. The pink color of the lakes comes from the crustaceans Artemia and nauplii.
It is better to get there by your own transport or from Branaul by bus: to Raspberry Lake - to the village of Mikhailovskoye, to Buturlinsky - to Slavgorod.
