If one day you find yourself in West Africa, be sure to take a look at 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 hot pink water.
No wonder the lake is considered one of the main attractions of Senegal. What is his secret?
Rosewater Mystery
The water of Lake Retba is very s alty. For most microorganisms, the s alt content 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 sunlight and weather conditions. For example, during the dry season, Pink Lake in Senegal becomes incredibly bright, attracting an especially large number of tourists. The magical hue of the water, combined with the multitude of boats gliding across the surface of the lake, creates a completely surreal picture.
Where is it?
You can look at Pink Lake off the coast of the Atlantic. It is located near Dakar, the capital of the country.
Only thirty kilometers from the city, and you are there. From herselfThe western point of the peninsula is also not far away here - twenty kilometers to the Zeleny Mys peninsula. The area of the amazing reservoir is small (it is three square kilometers), and its deepest place is three meters. There is a village on the shore, the workers and merchants of which 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 s alt from the bottom. It's a very hard job, but it pays well. Therefore, flat boats cover the entire coastline every day.
History of Retba
Once there was a lagoon connected to the Atlantic Ocean. The surf brought sand from year to year, and the channel was gradually covered with it. In the 70s, a drought hit the local area, after which Retba became shallow, making s alt production quite affordable.
The water is gradually returning, and the workers are standing in it up to their shoulders, but only twenty years ago the level here was maximum waist-deep. The depth of the lake is also increasing because people extract about twenty-five thousand tons of s alt, gradually scooping out the bottom. In addition to microorganisms called Dunaliella, which give the water a special shade with their pigment, no other organisms, no fish, no 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 s alt here. It is impossible to drown here: dense water keeps objects on the surface. Even boats heavily laden with prey do not sink. It takes three hours of hard work to fill a boat, and each workermust repeat this operation three times a day. To prevent s alt of such a concentration from corroding the skin, workers rub themselves with a special oil from the fruits of the tallow tree. Otherwise, painful ulcers will appear on the skin in half an hour. So it's better to watch the lake from the side.
