2023-06-29 00:45:51
Lac Retba, better known as Lac Rose, is a large shallow lagoon, located a few hundred meters from the ocean, surrounded by dunes and casuarina trees. It was also the final stage of the Paris-Dakar rally.
Known and renowned for its golden pink color due to the presence of micro-organisms and the high concentration of minerals, added to the intensity of the sun’s rays.
Today, tourists are starting to desert this lake, which has lost its pink color since August 2022. In question, the opening of a breach which spilled all the water from the suburbs evacuated following heavy rains. This is what actually doubled the volume of water in the lake, and diluted the micro-algae that gave the lake its pink color.
However, it is this coloring that attracted many tourists. A tour of the site allowed us to observe and see the impact of this drainage water.
Ibrahima Mbaye, president of the Arr Lac Rose Association, showed us all around the lake which has suffered many threats. For more than a year, the workers of the Lac have seen all their activities reduced to the bare minimum.
The most affected is the salt productivity sector. Here, more than a hundred people who depended on the lake find themselves without income. The floods destroyed 7,000 tons of salt. This is equivalent to a loss of several billion CFA francs.
Moreover, the salt farmers are not the only ones to worry, the boatmen and souvenir sellers also fear for their future. In the artisanal village, many stores have been recovered, including that of Younouss.
For Mor Guèye, the president of the artisans of Lac Rose, things are not like before. “Before the Covid, it worked well, we might earn between 80 and 100,000 CFA francs a day. Currently, to earn 5,000 francs a day, it’s the cross and the banner, “he laments…
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