Lake Tuz: A Ruby Delight — Turkey
Lake tuz is the pretty red water lake you stumble upon during an Instagram scroll. It is the second largest lake in Turkey and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. Located near Aksaray it is accessible to visitors. The lake was declared a specially protected site by UNESCO in 2011.
Tourists flock to this lake around given its home to many a fauna. Its most prolific wildlife residents are the flamingos. The lake “provides life to the largest flamingo colony in the Middle East and North Africa combined,” Vice reports. Every year thousands of picture-perfect flamingo chicks emerge from their nests by the lake. Along with greater flamingos, the greater white-fronted goose and lesser kestrel also breed in the area.
The lake changes colours depending on the seasons. During the winters it has an ice-blue hue. Meanwhile, during the summers the lake naturally turns red and white due to algae and dries up exposing on average of 30 cm of a thick layer of salt. There are three salt mines operating in this region which amount to about 63% of the salt consumed in Turkey as a whole. For the better part of the year, the lake is fairly shallow at about 1 ft.
The flamingos’ favour this region since the algae is a part of the food chain for flamingos. The redness on the lake beings in May due to decreasing rainfall and the rise in the water’s salinity. The red is visible in May, June, and July, which make it the best time to visit this region. The colour drifts away in July as the water level falls.
Head out to Lake Tuz for the prettiest views and a hyped-up instagram feed!
Originally published at https://theluxuryvoyage.com on April 19, 2019.
