Pink pond. Pink lake in Senegal. Are there pink lakes in Russia?

Photos of pink lakes seem like a good job in Photoshop. It's true that there are plenty of fakes on the Internet, but a handful of bubblegum-colored lakes around the world got their hue without the help of a photo editor filter. The unnatural color of lakes is usually the result of microorganisms interacting with salt water. In fact, almost all of the world's pink lakes are. Where are these lakes located? Australia has an impressive collection, but unusual lakes are also located in South America, West Africa, Eastern Europe and Mexico. Some of these places are protected, others are very remote from civilization. Pink lakes make excellent natural attractions, although the salt water makes them difficult the best option for summer swimming.

Here are some examples unique phenomenon pink lakes:

Lake Koyashskoe, Crimea

Lake Koyashskoye, sometimes called Opuksky, is located on the Crimean Peninsula. The color of the water here varies from pink to red depending on the season. In spring the pink color is well defined, and in summer the shade is darker and more saturated. Koyash Lake is popular among local residents, but it is little known to tourists due to the current political situation between Ukraine and Russian Federation on this peninsula.

Why is Lake Koyash pink? Like many salt lakes, it is filled with halobacteria, microorganisms that produce a pink protein when they absorb solar energy. Some also attribute the pink color to brine shrimp, which thrive in saltwater. By the end of summer, a significant amount of water in Lake Koyashskoe evaporates, and salt remains along its coast.

Lake Hillier, Australia

Lake Hillier is located on Middle Island south coast Western. The water in the lake has a pink tint, and the color does not change even if you collect water in a container. Hillier is surrounded by eucalyptus and sand.

Most people believe that Hiller's deep color comes from a combination of algae and salt-loving halobacteria. Other pink lakes change color depending on the season, the angle of the sun's rays or air temperature. Lake Hiller remains the same shade of pink throughout the year, thanks to the presence of algae (such as Dunaliella salina) and other microorganisms. Unfortunately, tourists have to admire this body of water from the air, since it is almost impossible to get to it by land.

Lake Retba, Senegal

Lake Retba is located on the edge of the Cap Vert peninsula in Senegal. Sand dunes separate its waters from Atlantic Ocean. Retba is known throughout the world as the former finishing point of the famous Paris-Dakar rally. Locals call it Lac Rose. Water has a salt content, which is sometimes compared to salinity. The pink tint is due to the presence of a plant known as Dunaliella salina.

The main industry here is the salt industry. About 1,000 workers collect 24,000 tons of salt from the lake every year. The lake is easy to visit because it is only 30 km from Dakar, the capital and economic center of Senegal.

Pink Lake in Las Coloradas, Mexico

The lake is a three hour drive from tourist city Playa del Carmen. The lake gets its pink color from microorganisms that synthesize beta-carotene (a precursor to vitamin A, which gives color to vegetables such as carrots).

The lake is located in a remote part of the Yucatan Peninsula. From the nearest tourist center to the lake, kilometers of empty beaches stretch. Pink Lake is outside a small fishing village Las Coloradas. There is a salt factory nearby. Travel magazine Afar advises tourists visiting the region in winter and in early spring, emphasize on large groups migratory birds such as flamingos and pelicans.

Salt lake in Torrevieja, Spain

Pink Lake is located on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, near the city of Torrevieja. It is located between the sea and two salt lakes, which helps to create a lake that makes this place one of the best in the region. The rose waters here are believed to have health benefits.

During the migratory season, many flamingo birds can be seen in this place. They, along with other migrating birds, spend time here due to the high concentration (of brine shrimp) in the salt water.

Lake Masazir, Azerbaijan

Despite its unique hue, this lake is not located on tourist map, although it is located only a few kilometers from Baku, the cultural and economic center of Azerbaijan. To get there, tourists must either hire a car or take a commuter bus, and walk a few more kilometers to the lake. Pink is the brightest color in warm weather.

Like other salt lakes, Masazir is home to an intense salt industry. Workers extract salt from small plots. Industry is concentrated in the village of Masazir.

Lake Natron, Tanzania

Lake Natron is located in the Arusha region in northern Tanzania, Africa. The same types of salt-loving microorganisms that color other salt lakes create the shades of pink and red in Lake Natron. However, the lake is famous not only for its color. Nearby mineral springs feed it with large amounts of sodium carbonate, which turns dead animals into stone statues. Photos of mummified birds that appeared on the Internet a few years ago gave the site an ominous image that it may not deserve.

Lake Natron supports existence wildlife. The water is truly ideal for the cyanobacteria that long-legged birds feed on.

Colorado Lagoon, Bolivia

Although it can be described as a "pink" lake, Laguna Colorado often has a red or reddish-brown hue. Salt algae and bacteria help create this color, but sediment from nearby rocks also affects the color of the water.

Like some other pink lakes, flamingos are common here. The South American species of James's flamingo is found in large numbers on the lake to feed on microorganisms. Andean and Chilean flamingos are also present in Laguna Colorado. Minerals form other colorful lakes in the Bolivian high plains. For example, Laguna Verde contains water of a deep emerald color.

Hutt Lagoon, Australia

Hutt Lagoon is one of several famous lakes in Australia. Scientists believe that this body of water was once part of the Hutt River estuary, but the lake is now separated and fed by salt water seeping from the ground. Water evaporation is most intense during the hot summers of Western Australia. At that time most of The lake may dry out and a layer of salt will remain on the soil. Even during the wetter periods of the year, the lake reaches a depth of only about a meter.

The pink color comes from algae that produce carotenoids. Like other salt lakes, Hutt Lagoon has a large population of shrimp.

Great Salt Lake, Utah

The Great Salt Lake is not known as the "pink lake". However, since its salinity is almost 10 times higher, the lake provides ideal conditions for halophilic microorganisms. The salinity level of the lake varies: in the southern part the water is less salty compared to the northern part, where only the hardiest microorganisms survive.

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.

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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, 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.

Why is the water pink?

This question comes to mind first; it is asked by almost every traveler who has visited this place. anomalous place. But the answer has not yet been found. Unlike other colored lakes in the world, such as Retba in Senegal and the saltwater bodies of San Francisco Bay, the origin of Lake Hillier's pink color has not been definitively proven.

At first it was thought that the color was the result of paint created by Dunaliella and Halobacteria organisms living in salty bodies of water. Another hypothesis says that the pink color is due to red halophilic bacteria. It was assumed that the reason for the pink color of the water was a combination of a certain salinity of the water and specific microorganisms. But tests conducted in 1950 did not confirm these assumptions. In subsequent years, a number of studies were also carried out, but the mystery of Lake Hillier remained unsolved, seriously exciting the minds of scientists.

Lake location

Lake Hillier is located at the very edge of the Middle Island, separated from the ocean only by a small strip of eucalyptus trees surrounding the reservoir on all sides. The evergreen trees provide a wonderful contrast to the landscape, looking particularly vibrant against the pink lake backdrop.

As for the size of the lake, it cannot be said that it is large. Its width is about 600 meters. Thanks to its oval shape, the lake is often compared to a fairy-tale cake with delicious pink icing.

History of Pink Lake

The first mention of Lake Hiller dates back to 1802. British navigator and hydrographer Matthew Flinders stopped on Sredny Island and noticed an unusual lake on his way to Sydney.

In the years 1820-1840, seal hunters and whalers stopped on the island, and at the beginning of the 20th century, salt began to be extracted from rose water. But the resource quickly dried up, and after 6 years salt production was stopped. Since then, the lake has not been used for industrial purposes.

The Legend of Lake Hiller

This mysterious place has its own, very beautiful legend that explains the pink color of the water. It is known to few sailors and rare travelers.

In the 17th century, in the waters surrounding the island, the ship was caught in a strong storm and sank. The only surviving sailor was thrown onto uninhabited lands. The fight against the elements greatly injured him. Due to broken limbs, every movement brought pain to the sailor, and getting food became torture. A few weeks later, maddened by pain, loneliness and hopelessness, he exclaimed: “I will sell my soul to the devil if this nightmare stops!” Then a man came out from the shadow of a nearby tree with two jugs in his hands: one contained blood, and the other contained milk. He slowly walked to the small internal lake of the island and said: “Blood will help you forget what pain is. Milk will relieve you of hunger. All you have to do is plunge into these waters.” After this, the stranger poured the contents of the jugs into the lake, causing it to change color. The sailor, who thought he was crazy, slowly walked into the suspicious pink water and dived, and when he emerged, the strange stranger was nowhere to be found. To the traveler’s surprise, there was no trace left of the fractures and the feeling of hunger. Later, pirates landed on this island and took the poor sailor prisoner. Subsequently, the filibusters were alerted by the fact that the prisoner did not feel pain and did not need food. Considering this a bad sign, the superstitious pirates threw the sailor overboard, not believing in his mystical story healing. By the way, the original name of the lake “Hiller” in pronunciation is absolutely consonant with the English word “Healer”, which is translated as “Healer”.

If you try to search the Internet for information or, especially, photographs about Lake Retba in Senegal, and then want to see a photo of Lake Hillier in Australia, you will be surprised to find that half of the material about these lakes simply overlaps. That is, they write about one lake and photographs of another and vice versa. There you are one example. This is not surprising, since both of these lakes are PINK.

Let's try to sort the information and photos by these lakes so as not to confuse them in the future.

Let's start with a lake in Senegal.

Lake Retba

In the language of the Wolof people, Senegal's main ethnic group, the lake is called Retba. A water mirror with an area of ​​three square kilometers is located near the peninsula Cape Verde. And this body of water looks like in a fairy tale about a milk river with jelly banks, only here everything is the opposite: the water is pink, like cranberry jelly, but the banks are white, like milk or, more precisely, like salt. But let's start, as they say, from the very beginning.

Photo 1.

Many years ago, the lake was a lagoon connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow channel. Gradually, ocean waves washed sand, which blocked the channel, and the lagoon turned into salt Lake, quite deep at first. However, in the 1970s, droughts began in Senegal, and the lake became very shallow. Now its greatest depth does not exceed three meters.
The water in Retba is really bright pink, and the reason for the unique color is that cyanobacteria live in the lake - the oldest microorganisms that appeared in the Earth’s biosphere 3.5 billion years ago. But it’s not just their advanced age that inspires admiration. These bacteria are one of the few that can survive in the thick brine that is the water of Pink Lake. The salt concentration here is 380 grams per liter, that is, almost one and a half times higher than in the Dead Sea. Salt lies in a thick layer at the bottom of the lake, and thanks to this, the local population can live almost comfortably - according to African standards, of course.

Photo 2.

Along the entire coastline flat-bottomed boats were located. This picture is reminiscent of the streets of our cities with cars parked on the sidewalk, but each owner of a boat here has a historically assigned place for him, which no one dares to occupy. Boats here are not a luxury and, in general, not even a means of transportation. They are necessary to extract salt. Every year, through joint efforts, people lift about twenty-five thousand tons of salt from the bottom, thereby deepening the lake. If earlier it was possible to ford it, now such walks, “like dry land,” are practically impossible.
Every morning here begins with local men leaving their houses and, stretching, heading towards the lake.

However, calling these buildings houses is only a stretch. And it’s hardly worth calling them shacks either. These are peculiar huts built from improvised materials - reed stalks, car tires, plastic bags... And visitors from neighboring countries (in our opinion, guest workers) live in them. These people leave their native lands and flock to Senegal, because here, on salt mining, you can earn about ten dollars a day - the money, according to local standards, is quite big, in their homeland - in Guinea, Mali, Gambia - they are talking about such a salary couldn't have dreamed of it. However, such happiness does not smile on them for too long, because no one can stand it here for more than three years - the salt water gradually corrodes the skin, and the person becomes covered with painful ulcers.

Photo 3.

So, early in the morning, migrant workers head to their punts, untie them and go out onto the lake expanses. Moving further from the shore, they drop anchor and lubricate their skin with so-called Chinese vegetable oil, which is extracted from the fruits of the tallow tree. If you neglect this simple procedure, then the concentrated saline solution splashing over the side of the boat will corrode the skin almost to the bone in just half an hour.

Jumping over the side of the boat, the miners first use a special device, like a crowbar, to loosen the salt, which covers the bottom of the lake in a dense layer, and then fill the basket with it under water. The next step is to lift the basket and transfer its contents to the boat, after allowing the water to drain. The boat can hold up to 500 kilograms of salt. From the outside it seems surprising that a small boat with such a cargo does not sink. However, in order to sink a boat in the waters of the lake or drown yourself, you have to try very hard - the concentrated solution keeps both the loaded punt and the person afloat.
To earn the coveted ten dollars, a worker must deliver a boat filled with salt to the shore three times during the day. By the way, in order to load 500 kilograms of salt into a boat, it takes an experienced worker at least three hours. Total: nine hours up to your shoulders in brine...

Photo 4.

But then the miners bring the heavy punts to the shore, and then their wives and daughters get down to business. The women's task is to transfer the salt from the boat into basins, carry it a little further from the water and pour it there to dry. And a basin filled with salt, by the way, weighs at least 25 kilograms...
After the salt has dried, pebbles and rubbish are selected from it, and then poured into heaps, which make the coast of the Retba look like alien landscape. Salt can lie in such piles for several years until a wholesale buyer is found for it. During this time, which initially had a gray color, it becomes dazzling white under the rays of the sun.

Photo 5.

No Senegalese citizen will stoop to become a salt miner. It's hard and thankless work. Therefore, local residents buy it in bulk and resell it to other African or European countries. They also happily play the role of guides, bringing tourists to an amazing lake with pink, jelly-like water and white milky, that is, salty, shores.

Photo 6.

Lake Retba is located less than an hour's drive from the capital of Senegal (40 km), on the northwestern coast of the Grand Côte country, in close proximity from the shores of the Atlantic. It is most convenient to arrive here within organized excursion is a popular attraction and joining a tour is easy.

If you want to arrive at the lake on your own, it makes sense to rent a car with a driver. The most unpretentious tourists can use the minibus service. And if you want to stay here for a few days, a considerable number of hotels in the Grand Côte resort area are at your service.

Photo 7.

The Retba is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by only a strip of low dunes, and underground salt waters The Atlantic generously feeds this reservoir, from which there is no outflow of water. So, over the course of thousands of years, the concentration of salt here increased - and today Lake Retba, in terms of salinity during the dry period from November to June, easily “matches” the popular Dead Sea: the salt content in the water reaches 40%. By the way, the length of the lake is about 2 km, and the depth is no more than 3 meters.

The fantastic pink hue of the water is the result of the vital activity of a special kind of cyanobacteria that feed on salt. These bacteria produce a pink pigment to “attract” a certain spectrum of solar radiation necessary for their life. Well, then the pink pigment saturates the water in the Retba and colors its surface with amazing shades.

Photo 8.

The concentration of salt in Retba is so high that you cannot lie here with a book in your hands on the motionless surface of the lake - the mineral very soon begins to corrode the skin. As for the salt miners, they rub their bodies with shea butter, which prevents the insidious mineral from coming into contact with the surface of the skin.

Photo 9.

And on the other side of the Retba, facing the Atlantic, stretches a ridge of low, graceful dunes. In a word, the landscapes here are truly mesmerizing: snow-white salt mountains, bright pink water surface and golden sand of the Green Peninsula of Senegal.

Photo 10.

This lake is also often called Lac Rose .

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Rubbing their bodies with a special oil that protects them from the harmful effects of incredibly salty water that corrodes the skin, salt miners spend the whole day on the lake. They dive to the bottom, blindly fill baskets with salt, then unload it into a boat and take it to the shore. There, the catch is dumped into heaps, allowed to dry, then washed and sorted, removing silt and sand. Burning out in the sun, the salt from the Pink Lake becomes snow-white, and this is what is brought for sale.

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But few tourists come to admire amazing lake with “bloody” water, they decide to plunge into the colored depths of Lac Rose. They prefer to observe from the side and take a lot of photographs.

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Now let's look at a lake that is more spectacular in appearance Lake Hillier in Australia.

Photo 1.

On the edge of Middle Island there is a mysterious pink lake surrounded by legends. From above, the shiny surface of pink Lake Hillier resembles the icing on an oblong cake. This lake gives unexpected shades to the wooded corner of the Middle Island. Middle Island is one of 100 smaller islands that make up the Exploration Archipelago, which stretches along the south coast of Western Australia. The most mysterious natural attraction of Australia is Lake Hillier and its pink water color.

Photo 2.

A shallow salt lake, approximately only 600 m wide. The white ribbon around it gives the lake an even greater impression of an unearthly landscape. The lake is surrounded on all sides by bright green eucalyptus trees, separated from the ocean only by a narrow strip of white sand dunes.

Until the middle of the 20th century, people were content to explain this phenomenon with the assumption that special bacteria lived in the lake water. In 1950, the pink color of the lake was studied by a group of scientists who hoped to find seaweed - Red algae (Dunaliella salina) - in the salt water of the lake. In very salty water, these algae produce a red pigment that turns other Australian lakes pink, such as the one on the mainland near Esperance. A water sample taken from Lake Hiller did not find any traces of algae, so the color of the lake is still a mystery.

Photo 3.

The first mention of the “pink” lake on Sredny Island dates back to 1802, when the British navigator and hydrographer Matthew Flinders stopped here on his way to Sydney, who became the discoverer of the pink lake.

Over the next few decades, the island was a kind of transit point for whalers, but at the beginning of the 20th century, the attention of visitors finally turned to the miracle of nature, albeit from a very materialistic point of view - they began to mine salt here. However, the business did not flourish for long. Even taking into account the use of special equipment instead of traditional manual labor, the profit was not enough to develop the business, and the strange color of the water did not particularly attract the consumer. Six years later, the entrepreneurs abandoned the project, and since then Hiller has attracted only curious tourists and, occasionally, scientists.

Photo 4.

In general, Lake Hiller is not the only pink lake even in Australia, not to mention bodies of similar colors in other parts of the world. Almost all continents have their own pink lakes - here is Retba in Senegal, Torrevieja in Spain, Canadian Dusty Lake, Masazir in Azerbaijan, Koyash Lake in Crimea, and many others. But of all of them, the Australian Lake Hillier is the only one whose mystery has not yet been solved. After all, the pink color of water is usually given either by special algae, or cyanobacteria, or specific chemical substances in the composition of the forming rocks. And what “paints” Lake Hiller such a bright color? Scientists cannot yet answer this question. The results of studies conducted in 1950 showed the complete absence of any colorful microorganisms, both at the bottom of the reservoir and in the water.

Swimming in this wonderful lake is, of course, possible - but it is at your own risk. After all, there is no trace of any spa baths, which are so common, for example, at the Dead Sea.

Photo 5.

There was a local legend about a sailor who found himself on the island after a shipwreck. Exhausted and wounded, he offered to sell his soul to the devil so that he could save him from this nightmare. At that same moment a man appeared on the shore of the lake and poured a jug of blood and a jug of milk into him. After which he said: “Take a bath, and you will not feel hunger or pain.” He did so, but acquired such strange abilities that the pirates who saved him eventually got scared and threw him back into the sea.

Let me remind you that scientists' studies of the lake water did not produce any results. They did not find any bacteria or minerals that could turn the water pink.

Salt dissolved in lake water can be used for food. Therefore, there were salt developments there for some time. In addition to nutritional benefits, this salt also has medicinal properties, so there is still some truth in the legend about the sailor.

Photo 6.

Lake Hiller is only 600 meters wide. The reservoir is surrounded on all sides by tall, bright green eucalyptus trees, which contrast sharply with the pink water of the lake. The lake is located at the very edge of the island, and only a narrow strip of land, consisting mainly of sand dunes, separates it from the ocean. From a bird's eye view the lake looks most impressive. The fact is that the shores of the lake are bordered by a thin layer of white salt, so from above it seems that the “pink spot” seems to be framed!
Thousands of tourists come to the island every year. They all want to see with their own eyes the unusual lake, which looks so great against the backdrop of evergreen eucalyptus trees!

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There are many attractions in Crimea. The most famous of them are: the Grand Canyon, Mount Ai-Petri and Swallow's Nest. However, there are others on this peninsula that are very interesting, but, unfortunately, few Famous places. The Pink Lake also falls into the category of such attractions. 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 object on 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, there are also others in Crimea salt lakes same nice 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.