Sunday, December 16, 2007
The Quest for the Red Lake
I may be the only guy in whole Senegal wearing a scarf. I'm still weak on my feet and every move is a pain. Not good when rumbling through the dusty streets of Dakar in a cab. We have experienced a lot of air pollution in numerous cities around the world but it has never been worse than here. You try to breathe through your shirt but it doesn't help much. After an hour you have a burning throat, a headache and it feels as if your lungs are completely coated with a mixture of soot and dust. Really, it's insane. We have no idea how you could live in this place and grow old. This said, 60% of Senegal's population are under 20 years of age.
The mysterious Red Lake does exist, however the opinions regarding its actual colour were divided. Some swore it was deep red while others thought it was merely a mixture of blue and purple. Hmm …
But anyway, we had decided to go there and see for ourselves. The drive was a nightmare and it reminded us of India and Nepal. Partly the streets were gone and it was steering through a maze of villages. You sometimes felt it had to be the last outpost of civilization before the end of the world. But a few minutes later the real street was back and we could go a little faster. Don't ask how fast – nobody will ever know because the speedometer was broken (just like all the lights, the interior and most of the car body).
The Republic of Senegal counts about 12 million inhabitants and became independent from France in 1960; ever since it seems political chaos rules. Official language is French (yes, at last one other country where people speak French!). Capital and by far biggest city is Dakar with about 2 million citizens; it is one of West Africa's most-frequented seaports and therefore of special importance to Senegal. Most important pillars of the economy are fishing and the production of peanuts; there are natural resources, too, but unfortunately up to now both the infrastructure and the financial means for exploitation are missing.
Where else have you heard the name "Dakar"? Most likely in connection with motor sports because that's where the famous "Rally Paris-Dakar" ends. And guess what – the finish line lies next to "Lac Rosé"!
Before boarding the taxi to mysterious "Lac Rosé" ("Pink Lake", that's its official name) we made sure to leave any luggage that wasn't absolutely necessary at the hotel. Granted, that's not a safe place either – but still better compared to carrying around more stuff than you can overlook! Below's a little trick how to effectively hide important documents like passports. ;-)
The decision was a good one; upon arrival at the Red Lake the first guy jumped into our car to help us. Even though we do speak French it was good that he had a basic understanding of English – so we decided to continue with him to the shores. Again a good decision because after getting out we immediately attracted a crowd of vendors, onlookers and children. The guy kept them as good away from our equipment as he could – especially important while the helicopter is in the air because then the baggage is more or less unattended. To be fair we have to say the people were really nice and we did not feel uncomfortable at all. We especially liked the way they were dressed – very colourful!
We finally went to the edge of the lake and the water was – red! Yes, believe it or not, the whole lake was red! Not pink, not purple, but an appealing red! Insane, it immediately reminds you of the biblical plagues, a sea of blood …
The water is salt water – so much in fact that there is a small industry exploiting the salt; it is sold to regional cities but also exported. The salt content of the lake is said to be almost as high as in the Dead Sea; this means you will float without swimming!
So is it true that in the Dead Sea you can float effortlessly and read a newspaper?! Yes, it is! This inland sea separates Jordan from Israel in the Middle East; in fact, I have been there and tested it myself in early 2007, just days before boarding the plane to Egypt with HeliGraphix. You can lie "on" the water surface on your stomach and stick both your feet and hands out of the water at the same time. Get one single drop of water into your eyes or swallow a bit of it – and prepare to die instantly, it's beyond imagination! And by the way, the Dead Sea is actually about to die … it's drying out very (!) fast, at least until a certain level is reached. But that's just another stunning story. Maybe some later time …
Two interesting questions: Why is the lake red, and why is there a dispute about its colour?
Apparently the lake got cut off from the nearby Atlantic Ocean a long time ago; its area is just 3 square kilometers and it lies near the village of Sangalkam, about 40 km north-east of Dakar. Due to the high salt concentration (allegedly around 380 g/L!) there's no animals living in it – same thing as with the Dead Sea (that's where it actually got its name from). This said, a certain type of cyanobacteria does manage to survive. Cyanobacteria were formerly classified as algae, however it's not true since they do not have a complete cell nucleus and thus do not belong to the eukaryotes. As their name suggests they are normally blue ("cyan"!). But then again, they were one of the first forms of life on our planet some billion years ago; the fact that they're still around tells you that they are obviously masters in adapting to the harshest of all conditions – such as saturated, corrosive salt water! The type living in "Lac Rosé" is by way of exception not blue but produces a nice reddish-pink pigment – thus the lake's fantastic colour!
As for the exact colour, it is said to show best in the dry season (wintertime). What's more it changes with the position of the sun! Sometimes the red comes through nicely while some other times it doesn't.
The people liked the helicopter a lot and applauded every other manoeuvre. Because I was still in rather poor health condition we did three quick flights, paid our mite to all the "helpers" and went back to Dakar. Visiting "Lac Rosé" was actually one of the worthiest trips in recent history, despite all the difficulty.
The ride back to Dakar Airport through heavy traffic once again demonstrated the incredible extent of air pollution – there are simply no words for it, it's worse than worse. Our flight to Lisbon was scheduled for 03 AM, but for reasons of safety we decided to go to the airport in the late afternoon already (once again, do not confuse our trip with some pre-booked club tour; this may be a different matter!). The airport is definitely beyond its capacity, flights are leaving all around the clock. Just like in China they use sort of a "floating system" of queuing up; you queue up more or less where you want and try to end up where you think you should. We waited patiently for about three hours until check-in and safety had been completed.
Baggage is treated beyond your wildest dreams. A small wall separates the check-in from the baggage collection point at the end of a conveyor belt. There were five guys piling up the bags; some of them were thrown over the pile and hit the concrete ground hard, the next one crashed right into the pile and thus everything collapsed. The guys also walked through and over the bags --- you could feel your jaw drop and prayed to God somebody comes around the corner and says "this is the hidden camera, we just nailed you!"
We were sure the heli box would not survive that treatment. So I went to the wall, waved to the guy directly at the end of the belt and told him to watch out for a somewhat bigger yellow box (baggage with 40+ kg is common in both Africa and South America – stacked on top of your box also has the potential to crush it). I slipped our last money over to him and pat him on the shoulder. He got the message and made sure the box was treated well. Certainly a success, but the process of loading and unloading the airplane were still unknown factors. Our flight finally left at 04:30 AM. I have seen far more than 30 airports all over the world, but the one in Dakar beats everything so far (they seem to work on a new one, though).
Well, that's the end of one more fantastic adventure. We've just arrived in Portugal and are already in the middle of our next mission - one of the most important of the whole WSF project! All the details tomorrow!
Labels: Africa, air pollution, cyanobacteria, Dakar Airport, Lac rose, Pink Lake, Red Lake, salt lake, Senegal
# posted by hg/tuw @ 07:51 
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