Not the usual white or blue, Hillier Lake’s water color attracts tourists with its rare pink color.
The lake is located on Middle Island, the largest of the islands in the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. Its area is quite small, only about 600 meters long and no more than 250 meters wide.
If you stand at the edge of the lake and observe, you will see that the water is only slightly pink, but if you look from above you will see it very clearly. However, unlike other pink lakes in the world, if you scoop water into a cup, the pink color remains the same.
When the sun shines on it, the lake surface is more sparkling and attractive than ever.
Scientists have had a headache trying to find a solution for the strange pink color of this lake. By 2015, a research team from the Extreme Microbiome Project (XMP) found the most accurate answer about the special pink color of Hiller Lake. When they collected water samples at the lake and analyzed DNA, the results were completely different from previous speculations
Lake Hillier is located on an island, surrounded by a vast ocean.
Many scientists speculate that the pink color of the lake is created by the organisms Dunaliella salina and Halobacteria. Another theory is that it is caused by a red bacteria in the salt crust. This color is also not a work of sunlight, because people took a bucket of water from the lake and the pink color remained the same even if the position of the bucket was moved.
According to the most recent investigation, researchers have confirmed that this bacteria and many other extremophile bacteria are the cause of the unusual color in the lake.
The lake turning pink is a strange phenomenon that makes everyone curious
It is known that the salt concentration of Hiller Lake water is very high compared to the concentration in conventional water reservoirs – a phenomenon similar to that in the Dead Sea. For that reason, the density of lake water is higher than the weight of the human body. If you accidentally fall into the lake, your body will be “lifted” to the surface without worrying about sinking and drowning.
However, visiting Hiller Lake can only be done by helicopter or boat. So many tourists who are afraid of heights are forced to miss the opportunity to admire the breathtaking scenery on Hiller Lake.