Salt Pink Lake in the Crimea

In the Crimea, in the Cimmerian steppe, in the Opuk National Nature Reserve there is a stunning beauty of the Pink Lake. However, its color may vary. Sometimes to reddish, sated or gently pink. Depends on the color gamut from sunrise and sunset. This lake is also called Koyashsky.

Koyashskoe Pink Lake in the Crimea: how to get there

It's not difficult to get to it. Many tourists ask the question: "Where is the Pink Lake in the Crimea and how to get there?" You can reach it by buses from Kerch that follow to the villages of Maryevka and Yakovenko. You can also reach the road leading to Kerch from Feodosia. At first the road surface is asphalted - about 100 km, then almost 30 km the path continues along the old roads. On the way there are small villages. After the last 20 minutes drive there is a magnificent view of the salty pink lake. In the Crimea, it is considered one of the main attractions. It is located in the environment of the slopes of Mount Opuk.

How this lake was formed

Salt Pink Lake in the Crimea was previously part of the Black Sea. Gradually, under the influence of the surf appeared a small separate lake, fenced off from the sea by a strip of land. Its depth is less than a meter, its length is about 4 km, its width is 2 km. The lake separates from the Black Sea Koyashsky peresyp, length of 3 km and a width of 100 meters.

Description of the lake

In addition to unusual shades of water - from pink to reddish, the lake is distinguished by its mirror-like surface. But you can watch it mostly before dawn, since with the advent of the sun, a breeze usually starts, thanks to which ripples and small waves appear.

Pink lake in the Crimea attracts not only its color. Due to the huge concentration of salt in the water you can see stunning beauty scenery. When water recedes from the coast in the hot summer months, small stones are exposed. As a result, white outgrowths of crystals form in the open places of these stones, which makes the landscape of the lake even more picturesque. In addition, there are also small salt icebergs in the water.

In April, there is still a lot of water in the lake, but with the onset of summer the banks are exposed and a small salt desert is formed near the water. You can walk to the water on it, but you need to do it very carefully, since the bottom of the lake is an extinct mud volcano. Under a thick layer of salt there may be quicksand, in which it is not difficult to fail. The latter is famous for its medicinal properties. Therefore, you can take a mud bath. Only after this, it is necessary to rinse, as the salt content in the mud is very high. You can plunge right into the Black Sea, which is literally nearby.

Colors of Lake Koyash

The Pink Lake in the Crimea has a unique color scheme. From gentle to saturated shades. The color of the water is constantly changing. It depends on the time of day. The whole range of flowers can be seen if you come to the lake before dawn. As soon as the sun begins to rise because of the mountains - water slowly changes its color from saturated pink to orange-red. It is at sunrise or sunset that you can see almost all shades. Peak pink color falls on the summer months, when it's hot.

Why the lake is pink

A pink lake in the Crimea was formed on the site of an extinct mud volcano, which became its bottom. And such a rich color it got thanks to the microscopic green algae Dunaliella Salina, which are in excess on the bottom. The peak of their development falls on the period of hot summer months, when the water becomes much less, and the salinity of the lake increases to 35%. Algae produce beta-carotene, thanks to which water and salt crystals acquire a pink color. The higher the air temperature, the more the water stains more intensively. Surprisingly, the algae give the local salt the smell of violets. In addition, the color of water is strongly influenced by whole colonies of the crustacean artemia, which lives in the lake in huge quantities.

Is there life in the Pink Lake

Despite the excess salt in the water, the Pink Lake in the Crimea is framed in spring by lush greenery on the banks. Here you can meet many wild flowers and even wild tulips. They grow until the summer, until they burn out in the hot sun.

At the same time - in April-May - on the lake you can see a lot of water birds, which are not afraid of the salinity of the water, because in this period it is still not very strong. And the water at this time does not have a rich pink hue. After May it becomes more and more salty, because in summer the lake is a little empty. But not really. For example, different kinds of waders do not scare them at all, and they can be seen on the lake even in hot summer months. As well as a shiloklyuvku.

In the spring on the shores of the Pink Lake there are nests of gull-laughter. During this period, the salt crust was not yet formed on the banks, and the birds eagerly nest their nests there. The fact that there are quite a lot of birds on the lake is explained by the fact that huge colonies of shrimp artemia live in the water. And he is a favorite food of birds.

Most of the places near the lake are equated to the semi-desert. In the summer, the salt is carried by the wind for long distances. For this reason, the vast area around this pond is completely unsuitable for cultivation. This lake is considered the most saline on the whole peninsula. The concentration of salt in hot months reaches 0.35 kg per liter of water. For comparison: the concentration in the Black Sea is 0.018 kg per liter. In the Middle Ages, there was even a salt mine on the Pink Lake.