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What to see in Senegal
Lake Retba
- Vacations to Senegal
- Points of Interest
Tourist attractions Lake Retba
The eye-popping pink waters of Lake Retba are a must-see highlight of any tour of Senegal. Bubblegum pink Lake Retba, separated from the deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow stretch of sand dunes, seems like something from a fantasy. In fact, the magical colour of Lake Retba is the result of Dunaliella Salina bacteria which lives in the water and produces red pigments in order to absorb sunlight. Situated around an hours drive from the capital of Dakar, Lake Retba covers 3 square kilometres and has a high enough salt content to rival the Dead Sea in Jordan!
A designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the lake is a vital source of salt, collected by an estimated 3,000 salt miners who head out onto the waters of Lake Retba to harvest the salt from the bottom of the lake, piling their modest fishing boats high with valuable salty crystals before returning to the shore. Along the shoreline, enormous mounds of salt are cleaned and processed and commonly used to preserve fish, a staple of traditional Senegalese cuisine.
Few creatures can survive in the potent waters of pink Lake Retba except for very small fish, who have adapted to the super-salty environment. Because there are no fish to catch, Lake Retba is used solely for the purposes of harvesting salt and as a popular tourist attraction. If you are wondering whether you can swim in Lake Retba, you’ll be pleased to hear that the answer is yes! To the delight of travellers who visit Lake Retba, its milky waters are safe for swimming, but be prepared for a bouncy ride as the hypersalinity of the lake water makes it exceptionally buoyant. For the most spectacular hues of pink, visit Lake Retba in the dry season between November and June.
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Tourist attractions senegal
Points of interests
- Trips to Djoudj and Barbarie National Park
- Trips to Goree Island
- Trips to Lake Retba
- Trips to Saint Louis
Other Points of interests
- Trips to Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary
- Trips to Aberdare National Park
- Trips to Addis Ababa
- Trips to Amboseli National Park
- Trips to Arba Minch
- Trips to Arusha
- Trips to Arusha National Park
- Trips to Bahir Dar
- Trips to Bati
- Trips to Bazaruto
- Trips to Bigodi
- Trips to Bwindi National Park
- Trips to Diani
- Trips to Entebbe
- Trips to Gondar
- Trips to Great Rift Valley
- Trips to Jinka
- Trips to Jozani Forest
- Trips to Kibale National Park
- Trips to Kigali
- Trips to Kilimanjaro
- Trips to Lake Chamo
- Trips to Lake Manyara National Park
- Trips to Lake Naivasha
- Trips to Lake Nakuru National Park
- Trips to Lake Turkana
- Trips to Lalibela
- Trips to Lamu
- Trips to Maasai Mara National Reserve
- Trips to Machangulo
- Trips to Maputo
- Trips to Mburo Lake
- Trips to Menengai Crater
- Trips to Mombasa
- Trips to Murchison Falls National Park
- Trips to Musiara Marsh
- Trips to Nairobi
- Trips to Ngorongoro
- Trips to Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Trips to Samburu National Reserve
- Trips to Serengeti National Park
- Trips to Stone Town
- Trips to Sweetwaters
- Trips to Tarangire National Park
- Trips to Thomson Falls, Nyahururu.
- Trips to Tofo Beach
- Trips to Tsavo
- Trips to Tsavo West National Park
- Trips to Turmi
- Trips to Vilanculos
- Trips to Zanzíbar
Countries Nearby
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- Namibia Trips
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