Lake Hillier - The Pink Lake in Australia

Lake Hillier is an amazing lake on Middle Island of Recherche Archipelago in Western Australia. The most notable feature of this lake is its pink color. The island provides visitors with one of the most amazing view of the world's natural wonder. From above the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink, but from the shoreline it looks more like a clear pink hue is in the water. It is such a significant feature of the archipelago that air passengers often take note of it.



Lake Hillier is located on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago in Western Australia. It is a tiny saline lake that spans about 600 meters in length. The lake is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees. The shoreline is also covered in salt crust deposits. A narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separates it to the north from the Southern Ocean.



The color is permanent, and does not alter when the water is taken in a container. However, the reason why the water is pink remains a mystery. Some scientists suggest the lake is this color because the water contains low nutrient concentrations, and several bacteria and algae that require a high concentration of salt. The lake's water is known to be extremely salty. Despite the unusual hue, the lake exhibits no known adverse effects upon humans.


Lake Hillier is not the only pink lake in the world. There is at least one more, which is called Lake Retba, and lies to the east of the capital Dakar, Senegal. Like Hillier, high concentrations of salt have been found in Lake Retba.