Pink Lake – Keur Moussa Monastery Tour

Pink Lake – Keur Moussa Monastery

We will leave this morning for Keur Moussa, where we can observe and participate in the morning mass at the famous monastery, built by Benedictine Monks in the early 1900s.

Here we will see Benedictine Monks celebrating mass accompanied by traditional African musical instruments such as Koras, Balafons, and Soft Drums.

Mass is celebrated in French with a generous sprinkling of Wolof, which is the local language.

After the Keur Moussa mass, let us continue on the way to Pink Lake and visit the nearby Fulani village on the dunes. Fulanis are well known to be breeders and nomadic peoples; here, those tribes are farmers or workers at the lake‘s salt exploitation.

Retba Lake, by its original name, is a rare natural phenomenon caused by a unique combination of microorganisms and a high concentration of salt.

Separated from the Atlantic Ocean only by narrow dunes, the pink hue of this Lake is caused by the high salt content (a rate of 380g / g/Liter). This means to is 11 times saltier than the Atlantic Ocean and the second in the rate of salinity after the Dead Sea.

The salt content changes with the seasons and the amount of daylight, with the lake fluctuating from a light mauve to deep pink. This is all quite the spectacle, particularly when the light is just right, and the best time to witness the magic is when the sun is high during the dry season from November through to June.

Interact with the salt harvesters.

We can swim or float, or we can have a boat ride in the lake, buoyed by the salt. Other optional activities, such as a camel or ATV ride through the dunes, to follow the tracks of the former Paris-Dakar race.