THE PINK LAKE RETBA - SENEGAL

Ever seen a lake that’s crimson in colour? That’s what's weird here, way to the presence of positive planktons and minerals

Photo Credit : wikipedia

Less than an hour far from the capital metropolis of senegal there's an unusual lake with a view to sincerely capture the unsuspecting visitor’s eye because of its uncommon but brilliant red coloration. Lake retba (or lac rose as it's far recognized by locals) is separated simplest via a few slender dunes from the atlantic ocean and, as predicted its salt content material may be very excessive. Its salinity content compares to that of the useless sea and all through the dry season it exceeds it. 

Its awesome purple shade is as a result of the dunaliella salina micro organism, that is attracted by the lake’s salt content. The micro organism produces a crimson pigment with a view to absorb the daylight, therefore giving the lake its unique coloration. Its coloration is especially visible all through the dry season (which lasts from november to june) and much less during the wet season (july-october). Not many residing organisms are able to live to tell the tale in lake retba due to its high salt content, so it serves specifically as a traveller factor and for salt production.

Photo Credit : curiosity

In fact, if making a decision to visit the lake, you may continuously see salt creditors working at the lake and the shorelines of lake retba are complete of piles of accumulated salt. This salt is extracted by way of locals from the lowest of the lake the usage of their arms, then positioned into baskets it is transported to the shore in which it is used specifically to keep fish. The lake is handiest 3 rectangular kilometers huge (about 1,1 square miles) and there may be no principal town developed alongside its shorelines. While travelling the lake, you will be surprised by way of the evaluation of the mountains of salt packed up subsequent to the lake’s shore, the crimson colour of the lake’s water and the gold sand dunes on the opposite aspect of the lac rose.

The lake has been the finish factor of the well-known dakar rally earlier than it moved to south america. The dunaliella salina bacteria which gives the lake its distinct shade is completely innocent to humans and swimming in the lake is possible. Locals who paintings on extracting salt from the lake use shea butter acquired from the shea nut tree. Lake retba isn't the most effective red lake in the global. There are different lakes near baku, azerbaijan or in jeddah, saudi arabia, but they are both small or now not natural. Lake retba is not the most effective red lake in the world, lake hillier is an isolated one located australia.