Due to Mother Nature losing her battle to the expansion of luxury condos, this series will be archived on July 31, 2020.
~~~~~ The cache is not at the posted coordinates ~~~~~
What’s the puzzle? Each cache page requires you to solve for the true north coordinates. Some of the caches contain a hint to find the Pink Finale. You need to complete both ribbons before attempting the Pink Finale.
Ribbon 2: GC65XWQ Pink #7: Pink Floyd, GC65XXA Pink #8: Pink Slug, GC65XXT Pink #9: Pink Lake of Senegal, GC65XY1 Pink #10: Pink river dolphin, GC65XYC Pink #11: Pink Manganocalcite, GC65XYK Pink #12: Pink – Translation
Pink #9: Pink Lake of Senegal
Lake Retba (or Lac Rose as it is known by locals) is separated only by some narrow dunes from the Atlantic Ocean. The lake is only 3 square kilometers big (about 1.1 square miles) and there is no major town developed along its shores. Its salt content is very high. Its salinity content compares to that of the Dead Sea and during the dry season it exceeds it.
Its distinct pink color is caused by a bacteria, which is attracted by the lake’s salt content. The bacteria produces a red pigment in order to absorb the sunlight, thus giving the lake its unique color. Its color is especially visible during the dry season and less during the rainy season.
Not many living organisms are able to survive in Lake Retba because of its high salt content, so it serves mainly as a tourist point and for salt production. Locals who work on extracting salt from the lake use shea butter obtained from the shea nut tree. They extracted salt from the bottom of the lake using their hands, and transport the salt to the shores using baskets. The salt is used mainly to preserve fish.
When visiting the lake, you will be amazed by the contrast of the mountains of salt packed up next to the lake’s shore, the pink color of the lake’s water and the gold sand dunes on the other side of the Lac Rose.
Lake Retba has pink lake water due to
a) The extremely large colony of flamingos that reside near the lake. (.099)
b) Bacteria in the lake that produces a red pigment in order to absorb the sunlight (.073)
c) The water is not pink, but clear and the pink bottom of the lake bed is shining through (.047)
N 37° 5.XXX W 76° 24.008
Congratulations to GeoBlox and Scottish Cavalryman on a well deserved FTF on a cold rainy night!
This geocache series won a Bronze - Outstanding Cache Series/Geo-Art Hidey Award at the 10th Annual Milestones Meet-n-Greet & Hidey Awards.