It looks like something out of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie Land, but this pink lake is very real. Its name is Lake Hillier and it is found on a small island in southwest Australia.
Lake Hillier is a salt lake, but the salt content above the water – said to be similar to that of the Dead Lake – is only one factor in the pink color. The organisms in Lake Hillier also help keep the water pink year-round, even after it is stocked.
This remarkable sight is found on Middle Island, the largest island of the Recherche Archipelago, off the southern coast of Western Australia. Its proximity to the sea makes the contrast even more apparent.
As the name of the archipelago suggests, these islands are used for research purposes and are not accessible. This means that although the pink water is safe for humans to swim in, the only way to admire Middle Island is by helicopter.
When you reach the shore of Lake Hillier, the water looks less like the hot pink of the sky. Instead, it has a lighter, more transparent quality. It’s still pink, no doubt, but it looks lighter than the top.
The pink color is due to a combination of the salinity of Lake Hillier as well as the few organisms that live in the lake. One of them is pink bacteria called halobacteria. An extensive study by the Extreme Microbiome Project in 2016 revealed at least five prominent species of halobacteria, as well as several other halophilic organisms. This bacteria is present in the crust of salt. Another organism that explains the color of Lake Hallier is a red algae called Dunaliella salina. Algae creates a red color and turns the water mostly pink.
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Lake Hillier is not the only pink lake in the world. In fact, for a long time, this lake wasn’t even the only pink lake on Middle Island, and the unimaginably named pink lake also shared a color. However, it was never this bright and it hasn’t been pink at all for 16 years.
Most similar lakes change color with temperature fluctuations, but Lake Hillier’s shade is maintained 365 days a year.
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