Famous 'Pink Lake' in Senegal is losing its pink appeal because of floods

A tourist camp along the edge of Lake Rose. After a heavy rainy season in Senegal and a disastrous plan to pump flood waters into Lake Rose, it has risen two to three times higher than usual. – Photos: AFP

Maguette Ndiour stands on the edge of Senegal’s Lake Retba, famous for its pink-hued waters, and points to a mound of salt slowly being shovelled into bags by men toiling under the hot midday sun.

“This is the last of what we were able to save as the waters rose,” Ndiour, the head of an association of artisanal salt collectors, says of the 200-tonne pile.