The picture looks like something out of a little girl’s coloring book--a cotton candy pink lake with white sand dunes lining the shore. In fact, this isn’t something conjured up in a child’s imagination. It’s a picture of Lake Retba located in Senegal. This unusual hue is caused by an organism called Dunaliella salina, a harmless, salt-loving micro-algae. This bacterium produces a red pigment that uses the sun’s energy to create more energy. This in turn gives the water its strange color. Depending on the amount of sunlight, the water actually ranges in color from rusty brown to lilac to reddish pink. And those sand dunes…they are actually piles of salt.
The locals have been mining Lake Retba for its salt since the 70’s. The men wade in waist-deep and scrape the bottom of the lake to gather the salt which they collect in their canoes. The salt is taken back to shore, washed, and allowed to dry in the sun.
Because of its high salt content, which can be up to 40%, not much else can live in Lake Retba. It serves as one of west Africa’s most bizarre landmarks.
Photos courtesy of Huffington Post, view the original article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/05/lake-retba-senegal-giant-strawberry-milkshake_n_1570007.html
The locals have been mining Lake Retba for its salt since the 70’s. The men wade in waist-deep and scrape the bottom of the lake to gather the salt which they collect in their canoes. The salt is taken back to shore, washed, and allowed to dry in the sun.
Because of its high salt content, which can be up to 40%, not much else can live in Lake Retba. It serves as one of west Africa’s most bizarre landmarks.
Photos courtesy of Huffington Post, view the original article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/05/lake-retba-senegal-giant-strawberry-milkshake_n_1570007.html
