Tag: pink lake

Would I Go Back to Senegal?

Because of spending a month in Senegal in October 2017, I came to feel a real appreciation for the country and its people.  Once I start to feel that level of connection, I find myself wanting to go back, and I do feel that pull to return to Senegal for a visit.

The sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean at Dakar, Senegal. Photo copyright 2017 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

What would I do if I went back for a visit?  This is my wish list. I really don’t think it would be feasible to do all of these things in a single visit, but I would enjoy doing what I can!

  1. Visit the local people that I had an opportunity to get to know during my month there. Reconnect, get an update on their lives.
  2. Return to Pink Lake with a swimsuit, and go for a swim in the salt water.
  3. Return to Terrou-Bi, which was the original hotel that we stayed at for our first two weeks in Senegal, before we had to change hotels.  Go for walks at sunset along its stretch of beach.
  4. Dine at the seafront restaurants in the Almadies part of Dakar. That was something I was really fond of doing when I was there the first time!
  5. Go inside the African Renaissance Monument, and climb to the top to look out of the windows in the man’s crown.
  6. Seek out opportunities to see performances of sabar music and dance. Perhaps even take lessons in sabar dancing myself.
  7. Seek out a ndeup ceremony.
  8. Go back to Gorée Island, and this time allow a full day to explore the entire island.

Will I actually go?  It’s hard to say.  I’d like to have at least one travel companion that I can dine with, plan with, and share the experience with.  I also would need to figure out how it fits into everything else going on in my life. For now, it’s on the back burner.  But life can take interesting directions, and if the right opportunity were to present itself, I’d be happy to return.

Pink Lake in Senegal
Mauricio Andrade, one of my IBM Corporate Service colleagues from Brazil, enjoys a swim in the salty water of Senegal’s Pink Lake.

Exploring Senegal’s Pink Lake (Lac Rose, or Lake Retba)

A fascinating site to visit in Senegal is Lac Rose, which is French for “Pink Lake”.  Its actual name is Lake Retba, but because of its pink color, it picked up the nickname.

Pink Lake in Senegal
The waters of Lake Retba in Senegal can look pink under the right conditions, due to microalgae in the salty lake that produce beta carotene.

Interestingly, this lake doesn’t always look pink.  The color depends on variables such as weather conditions, time of year, and the state of the algae that give the lake its pink appearance.  Two weeks before I went to Lac Rose with some of my IBM colleagues, a few other people from our group went.  They were disappointed because it wasn’t pink the day they saw it.  However, lucky for us, it was pink the day we went!

The conditions required to make the pink color include a combination of dry weather, high salt content in the lake (higher concentration than sea water), warm temperatures, and bright light.  This is because the lake acquires its pink color from beta carotene manufactured by a type of microalgae called Dunaliella salina, and these weather conditions help the algae to thrive.  One of our local friends also told us that the pink color is more apparent when there’s a bit of wind to cause ripples in the lake’s surface.  Weather can vary, so that’s why some visitors see the pink color and others do not.

At times, the lake can look orange, again because of the beta carotene.  It seemed as though the shallow water near the shore was more likely to look orange, whereas the deeper water out in the lake looked pink.

Mauricio Andrade after a swim in Pink Lake
My friend Mauricio Andrade from Brazil emerges from Pink Lake after taking a swim. He was part of our group for IBM Corporate Service Corps.

The day we went, temperatures had recently been in the 90’s (Fahrenheit) or low 30’s (Celsius).  There had been several days in a row of bright sunlight, and dry weather.  There was a breeze stirring the surface of the water a bit.

Orange waters of Lake Retba near the shore.
The waters of Pink Lake in Senegal can look orange in the shallows near the shore, but pink in the deeper waters out in the lake.

In case you’re wondering why I was in Senegal for a month, I was there as part of the IBM Corporate Service Corps.   You can read more about that here: https://roaming-jewel.com/2017/10/17/ibmcsc/