Today I went to the pink lake and the village of the turtles--sounds like something out of a children's book.
Right outside Dakar and its suburbs, there is a sanctuary that is home for over 150 injured African turtles and tortoises. My mother loves turtles (actually, she's obsessed with turtles), so I figured I had to go. Since I didn't have a lot of time, and I was a bit nervous about taking buses myself, I hired a driver for the day to take me to the pink lake and the turtle village. To be honest, the turtle village was just okay. I prefer marine turtles to land turtles; in the sea turtles glide gracefully, while on the land, they're awkward and slow. Very, very slowly, they extend their wrinkly necks from their shells, open their mouths, and take a tiny bite of something green. Apparently, this is the season that all the turtles reproduce. First of all, it's noisy because the male turtle emits this high pitched, croaking grunt every two seconds, like clock work. Second of all, it's pitiful because the female turtle just continues eating her food, makes an attempt to escape every now and then, then gives up and continues munching on leaves. Thirdly, according to the guide, the entire process lasts for an hour. After bearing witness to this clumsy ritual of theirs, I can't help but feel like tortoises are pathetic animals.
After leaving the village, I went to the pink lake. I imagined that it would only be a shimmer, but indeed, the entire lake is a light, coppery red color. It did not come out well in photos, but under the sun, the water is very pink. The unique color is due to the fact that the lake has 10 times the salt content of the ocean. Along the shores, people collect salt and sell if for about $2 for every 25 kilos. Along the lake, the salt creates a white foam that the people call, fleur de sel (salt flowers). When the wind blows, bit of foam float into the air. From far away, it looks like snow! The salt dunes, made of little white crystals, are piled high on the shore. I took a brief swim, and found myself floating like a buoy in the salty water. Even if I pulled my knees up to my chest, it was impossible to sink. The guide warned me to avoid getting water in my eyes, but I didn't listen and spent about 20 minutes frantically rubbing my eyes because I'd gotten salt into them.
I headed back to my new hotel, which is amazing. If anyone visits Dakar, they should stay at Lodge des Almadies. It's reasonably priced and very comfortable. The annoying this is they have a ridiculously expensive laundry service--it costs a dollar just to wash a pair of underwear! So, I washed a lot of my clothes myself in the sink--I probably could have billed the laundry to my company, but I felt ridiculous spending $10 on washing underwear alone.
Right outside Dakar and its suburbs, there is a sanctuary that is home for over 150 injured African turtles and tortoises. My mother loves turtles (actually, she's obsessed with turtles), so I figured I had to go. Since I didn't have a lot of time, and I was a bit nervous about taking buses myself, I hired a driver for the day to take me to the pink lake and the turtle village. To be honest, the turtle village was just okay. I prefer marine turtles to land turtles; in the sea turtles glide gracefully, while on the land, they're awkward and slow. Very, very slowly, they extend their wrinkly necks from their shells, open their mouths, and take a tiny bite of something green. Apparently, this is the season that all the turtles reproduce. First of all, it's noisy because the male turtle emits this high pitched, croaking grunt every two seconds, like clock work. Second of all, it's pitiful because the female turtle just continues eating her food, makes an attempt to escape every now and then, then gives up and continues munching on leaves. Thirdly, according to the guide, the entire process lasts for an hour. After bearing witness to this clumsy ritual of theirs, I can't help but feel like tortoises are pathetic animals.
After leaving the village, I went to the pink lake. I imagined that it would only be a shimmer, but indeed, the entire lake is a light, coppery red color. It did not come out well in photos, but under the sun, the water is very pink. The unique color is due to the fact that the lake has 10 times the salt content of the ocean. Along the shores, people collect salt and sell if for about $2 for every 25 kilos. Along the lake, the salt creates a white foam that the people call, fleur de sel (salt flowers). When the wind blows, bit of foam float into the air. From far away, it looks like snow! The salt dunes, made of little white crystals, are piled high on the shore. I took a brief swim, and found myself floating like a buoy in the salty water. Even if I pulled my knees up to my chest, it was impossible to sink. The guide warned me to avoid getting water in my eyes, but I didn't listen and spent about 20 minutes frantically rubbing my eyes because I'd gotten salt into them.
This third photo is not my own--I pulled it from google to demonstrate what I saw, and what I wish my photo looked like!
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