The forest cat (from the Latin Felis silvestris) lives in Western Europe and Asia Minor. It is similar to a gray European shorthair cat, but somewhat larger, and the tail is shorter. Weighs up to 7 kg, body length up to 90 cm. The domestic cat is classified as a species of forest cat. Its color is gray with black stripes and spots. Lives in the forest near ponds, [...]
The sand cat (from the Latin Felis margarita), or sand cat, is sometimes also called the desert cat, which is why it is confused with the Chinese cat, although in appearance they are not at all similar. It lives on the Arabian Peninsula, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. This is a small cat, the maximum weight of an adult male is 3.5 kg. The total length can reach up to 90 cm, with the tail being 30-35 [...]
Chartreuse is a blue cat with French roots. Origin: France. Origin: aboriginal. Coat: shorthair. Chartreux - this is what the monks of the Carthusian Order called both their favorite cats and their own liqueur. This is a strong, powerful animal, small but heavy, with dense, thick short hair, colored in various shades of gray. HISTORY OF THE BREED Cats of the breed [...]
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.
(Total 14 photos)
Post sponsor: TEPLOSVIT: Warmth in your home!
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, 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, 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.
It would seem, what else can surprise a continent in which almost everything is unusual? But Lake Hillier, with its bright pink water, is an unsolved wonder of stunning Australian nature.
It is located in the Recherche archipelago, on its Middle (Middle), off the southern coast of Australia. Lake Hiller is salty and shallow, and the water in it has a juicy density. When you fly low enough on an airplane, a stunning view opens up, worthy of the brush of a surrealist artist: in the middle of the island lies a bright pink oval with smooth edges, framed by a white “frame” of sea salt and dark green eucalyptus forest. The pink surface of Lake Hillier is often compared to a giant bubble gum or glittery cake frosting.
History of a miracle
Pink Lake in Australia was first mentioned in 1802 in the notes of Matthew Flinders. This famous British hydrographer and navigator stopped at Middle Island during his trip to Sydney.
Then whalers and hunters who lived off the southern coast of the mainland in the 30-40s of the 19th century told stories about this lake.
At the beginning of the last century, they decided to mine salt here, but after six years the activity was stopped. And in the 50s, the first scientific studies of amazing color were carried out.
Now Lake Hillier, Australia, is visited by numerous tourists who want to see for themselves that it really is as pink as in the photographs.
Interesting fact
Water appears bright pink in any quantity, even in a small vessel, regardless of the viewing angle.
Think of it like a sunset, with the soft pink Australian sky setting the orange sun slowly down into the clear pink water!
A little information
The dimensions of the reservoir are quite small - about 600 meters long and 200 meters wide. The amazing pink water is separated from the ocean by a strip of sand covered with a dense eucalyptus forest. A white ring of sea salt has naturally appeared around the lake, adding extra contrast. It is quite difficult to approach the lake due to the dense ring that surrounds the lake. But, nevertheless, you can walk here and even swim in the salty pink water!
Why is it pink?
Scientists believed that Lake Hillier owes its rich pink color to a special Dunaliella salina, which produces a bright red pigment in very salty water. Similar algae have been found in other pink lakes around the world.
Samples from Lake Hillier were carefully studied, but no traces of the supposed algae were found. The studies were carried out by different scientists and at different times, so there is no doubt about the reliability of the result. The color of the water remains a mystery for now.
Australia loves to amaze the imagination with such things, so the pink Lake Hiller has taken its rightful place among the living wonders of the local nature, along with the bright red Shark Harbor, the Pinnacles desert of the pinnacles of Nambung National Park, the striped Bungle Bungle Mountains, Kangaroo Island, the desert Simpsons and the Great Barrier Reef.
African nature is sometimes extremely amazing, which is why more and more tourists are trying to get to this continent.
Another miracle is the Pink Lake Retba, located near the capital of Senegal. From Cape Verde you should head northeast to get to this place.
The reservoir got its name because of its unusual and amazing color, which is actually pink with a hint of milk. The lake was named so by local residents belonging to the Wolof people.
Its area is small - 3 square kilometers, with a maximum depth of only 3 meters in some places.
Pink lake Retba in Senegal
Once upon a time, on the site of Pink Lake there was a lagoon connected to the Atlantic Ocean, but the waters constantly washed up the sand, which led to the disappearance of the channel. As a result, a salt lake with a fairly decent depth appeared.
However, already in the 70s of the 20th century, droughts began in the country, which led to a constant and significant decrease in the volume of the reservoir, so Pink Lake Retba became shallow over time, while the concentration of salts in the water increased.
At the same time, the lake acquired its color, thanks to which it has an unusual name and attracts travelers from all over the world. There are a couple of reasons why the color is this way:
- increased salinity;
- microorganisms.
The salt in the water has such a high concentration that its indicator exceeds this parameter of the Dead Sea by one and a half 
times and is 380 g/liter. In this regard, any swimmer stays perfectly on the surface; it is almost impossible to drown in Pink Lake Retba; relaxation on the water is truly relaxing and relaxing.
Naturally, such a huge salinity of the reservoir has led to the fact that few inhabitants can survive in these conditions, so the main inhabitants are the oldest cyanobacteria - Dunaliella salina, which have lived on the planet for several billion years. Thanks to them, the color of the water is so extraordinary.
At the same time, the Pink Lake is not always the same color; the color is influenced by:
- Times of Day;
- cloudiness;
- wind.
It is during windy weather that microorganisms are most active, and then they produce the largest amount of pink enzyme. In general, the color palette can range from light pink to rich brown.
The entire coastline of this colorful lake is filled with small boats, which are not intended for swimming or fishing, but for the main local activity - salt mining.
If a couple of decades ago salt miners worked standing in water only up to their waists, now the main depth is up to their necks. This increase in the depth of the reservoir is due to the fact that the volumes of salt produced are extremely large - more than 20 tons per year.
This process of obtaining this important product is simple - every day local men go to Pink Lake, in its very center they plunge into the water with all the equipment. Since the salt has accumulated at the bottom, it is beaten off with hooks, taken out of the liquid with shovels and placed in the boat. All this is done by touch, because the head is always above the surface.
This type of fishing is dangerous, as salt water corrodes the skin, forming wounds that take a long time to heal. The only way to protect yourself from this is with fat, so miners cover themselves with shea butter before diving.
Men's work consists of directly extracting salt from the lake, everything else is done by women, who become involved in the process from unloading the filled boat.
Salt is transported from the reservoir on the head; for this, about 25 kilograms of wet product are placed in containers, which are carried in this way to a drying place on the coast.
The color of the salt changes during processing:
- dark gray when first mined;
- whiter when exposed to sunlight.
The salt remains lying on the shore in heaps until wholesale buyers come for it, until this moment a year can pass. 
more. This product is exported mainly to the countries of the Dark Continent, sometimes it is sent to Europe, where it is considered exotic.
Local Africans rarely use lake salt; most often they use sea salt in everyday life, but in restaurants they sometimes bake fish in it.
The workers who mine the salt live right on the shore of the lake; there is a small village for them, in which frail dwellings are built from available materials with their own hands. Usually residents of not only but also other African countries work here, because they pay good money for such work. But the conditions are very difficult, so earnings usually last only a few years.
For visiting tourists who want to look at the pink pond, there are several hotels here. To make your vacation memorable, it is recommended:
- take a boat ride on the pink surface of the water;
- go on a jeep tour around the lake;
- buy a few souvenirs sold locally.
In former times, Lake Retba was a lagoon that was connected to the ocean by a narrow channel. But the Atlantic surf, gradually washing up the sand, filled the channel, and the lagoon turned into a rather deep salt lake. In the 1970s, Senegal experienced a period of drought, as a result of which the reservoir became very shallow.
That’s when Lake Retba acquired its unusual hue. The reason for the unique color of the water is that the lake is home to cyanobacteria - the oldest microorganisms that appeared on Earth 3.5 billion years ago. The surprising thing is that besides them, there is no other organic life in this saturated salt solution. The salt concentration in Lake Retba is almost 1.5 times higher than in the Dead Sea - 380 grams per liter. In the Pink Lake, like the Dead Sea, it is very difficult to drown. You can calmly float on the surface of the water while reading a book or newspaper.
The color of the Senegalese lake water can vary from light pink to brown. The color saturation depends on the time of day, on cloudiness, and especially on the wind, since in strong winds the cyanobacterium is activated and produces more enzyme, which turns the water pink.
The unusual lake lies northeast of the Cape Verde Peninsula, at the extreme southern tip of which is the city of Dakar. You can only get to Dakar International Airport with a transfer; there are no direct flights from Russia and Ukraine. Flight options include Iberia via Madrid, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, Air France via Paris, Alitalia via Milan and North African carriers Royal Air Maroc via Casablanca, Air Algerie via Algeria and Tunisair via Tunisia.
The two-kilometer shoreline of Lake Retba is densely strewn with flat-bottomed boats, very similar to Russian ones. But they don’t fish with them, don’t travel to the neighboring village, and don’t carry hay. On Pink Lake, boats are used only for salt extraction.
Today people extract salt while standing up to their necks in water; 20 years ago they moved around the lake without swimming equipment - the water level in it reached their waists. And due to the extraction of huge amounts of salt (about 25 thousand tons per year), the depth of the lake is rapidly increasing.
Every morning, dozens of local men, taking the necessary equipment, swim to the middle of the lake and climb into the very salty water. They break up the salt deposits at the bottom of the reservoir with special hooks, and then scoop up the salt with shovels and load them into boats. A high concentration of saline solution can corrode the skin in just a few tens of minutes, resulting in the formation of hard-to-heal ulcers on the body. To prevent this, miners, before boarding the boat, rub themselves with shea butter, which is extracted from the fruit of the tallow tree.
When a pirogue full of salt moored to the shore, the men’s mission ends there – the women unload the salt from the boats. They carry basins on their heads loaded with wet salt, weighing more than 25 kg, and dump it on the shore of the lake to dry. Initially, salt extracted from a reservoir is dark gray in color, but under the influence of tropical sunlight it gradually begins to turn white. Each pile of salt contains a sign indicating the owner's number. Here she can wait for wholesale buyers for a year or two.
The salt that is mined here is exported to African countries and, as an exotic product, even to Europe. Basically, the inhabitants of Senegal are content with salt, which they obtained from sea water. But sometimes local restaurants serve fish baked in salt from Lake Retba.
The workers live here, on the shores of Pink Lake, in a small village, in shacks built from scrap materials: plastic film, reeds, sheet iron and old car tires. They come here to work from neighboring African countries and from Senegalese provinces, but stay for no more than a few years due to harsh working conditions. However, by the standards of this country they earn good money.
Due to active salt mining, Lake Retba is becoming shallower every year. Over the past ten years, the area of the Senegalese lake has decreased almost three times, and if measures are not taken to protect this natural site in the near future, it may disappear from the face of the earth forever.
