Story:
The Pink Water Lake – Senegal, Africa
Pink Lake (Lake Retba) or Lac Rose lies north of the Cap Vert peninsula of Senegal, north east of Dakar. It is so named for its pink waters, caused by cyanobacteria in the water. The color is particularly visible during the dry season. The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like that of the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily. The lake also has a small salt collecting industry and is often the finishing point of the Dakar Rally. Its glamour color is due to many minerals and microorganisms in the water. Women in Senegal spend up to 14 hours a day on the banks of this lake to harvest salt. Each liter of water has about 380 grams of salt.
Analysis:
The story and the description about the Pink water lake is a fact. In fact, this complete story is from the Wikipedia page of Lake Retba, the actual name of Pink lake.
This weird lake in Senegal is pink in color because of salt-loving micro organisms called Dunaliella salina that are rampant in these highly saline waters. These waters contain up to 40% salt in some areas. The micro organisms produce a red pigment which absorbs the energy of sunlight to create more energy, thereby by turning the lake water pink. And because of this high saline content, objects and people float easily in these waters. Highly saline waters like Dead sea and Retba lake were once thought to be incompatible for life, but they are proved to be alive. Nowadays many people work on collecting the salts and other valuable minerals from these pink waters. Also, Dunaliella salina has anti-oxidant properties that produces large amount of carotenoids, the natural coloring pigments that are often used in cosmetics and dietary supplements.
Pink lake is a weird tourist attraction. You can find find more pictures in the image and reference sections.
Hoax or Fact:
Fact.
References:
Pink lake – Wikipedia
Lake Retba – Huffingtonpost
Lake Retba – InHabitat
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