Lake Retba, the Pink Lake
Near Dakar, a lake turns pink in the dry season, and salt collectors wade into it coated in shea butter.
What was reported
Lake Retba, or Lac Rose, lies just north-east of Dakar, separated from the Atlantic by a strip of dunes. In the dry season, from about November to June, its water turns a striking pink.
The lake is extremely salty, and hundreds of workers collect salt from its bed by hand, protecting their skin with shea butter.
Explanations offered
The colour comes from the alga Dunaliella salina, which makes a red pigment in very salty water, as at Lake Hillier in Australia. For many years the lake was the finish line of the Paris–Dakar Rally.
- When
- Pink in the dry season
- Where
- Lake Retba, near Dakar, Senegal
- Witnesses
- Salt collectors and visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.