Salt lake ace. Salt Lake Ace in Turkey. The healing properties of Lake Tus

Tuz (Tuz Golu in Turkish) is a salt lake located in a vast area on Turkey's arid central plateau, approximately 105 km northeast of Konya. This is the second largest lake in Turkey. The Tuz is fed by two major streams of groundwater and surface water, but has no outlet, which is the reason for its high salt content.

During most of the year, the lake is partially dry and is only one meter deep, especially during the dry summer months when the water evaporates in huge quantities. On dry surfaces, a crust of salt about 30 centimeters thick remains. This salt is collected, refined and sold in numerous markets in Turkey. 63% of all salt consumed in Turkey is mined here.

Like most salt lakes, Lake Tuz is a spawning ground for halophilic bacteria, including the microalgae Dunaliella. It is they, in the right conditions of high salinity and light intensity, that give the water such a red hue. Due to the production of protective carotenoids in cells, a special pigment turns the lake water red. The ace also attracts large colonies of the great flamingo, great white-fronted goose and prairie kestrel.

Not every Russian, especially those living in the European part of the country, will choose the harsh Siberian region for a vacation. But there are so many amazing places here, perhaps even more exotic than the already familiar resorts of tropical countries.

Unique Lake Tus

There is a unique corner in the south of Siberia, which is famous for its diversity of natural resources and favorable climate. The land of high-mountain taiga and steppes, the purest mountain streams and beautiful cascades of flowing water, clear lakes and healing springs. This is Khakassia. Lake Tus, vacation on the shores of which attracts tourists not only from nearby regions, but from all over Russia, is compared to the famous Dead Sea. The thing is that the salt content in its water is incredibly high and in the bottom part is about 155 grams per liter. The name of the lake is translated as “salt”. It is impossible to drown in it, you can’t even really dive - the water immediately pushes you to the surface. Lake Tus has an area of more than 2.5 square meters. km, the greatest depth is about 4.5 m, the coastline stretches for 8 km.

Recreation opportunities

Today, not only incorrigible romantics, accustomed to traveling in their own cars and living in tents, come here, but also supporters of more comfortable conditions. In recent years, camp sites have opened on the shores of the lake, where cottages with amenities coexist with tent camps. It must be said that in the summer, recreation centers on Lake Tus are very popular among tourists, so places must be booked in advance.

The healing power of the bitter-salty lake

Lake Tus is an excellent holiday destination where you can not only sunbathe and relax, but also improve your health. The special climate of these places, the water of a unique composition and the sulfide-silt mud at the bottom of the lake have a beneficial effect on the human body. Bathing is indicated for diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, gynecological and skin diseases, pathologies of the joints and musculoskeletal system, and diabetes.

Recreation center "Voskhod"

Every vacationer who comes to Lake Tus will be able to find a camp site according to his taste and capabilities. “Voskhod”, one of the most popular bases, is located 220 km from the capital of Khakassia - Abakan and 4 km from the village of Solenozernoye. Guests can stay in a cottage, summer houses or in a tent camp.

The cottage, designed for 10 people, has a cold kitchen with the necessary utensils, a refrigerator, a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet.

The summer houses for two persons, of which there are 37, are equipped with electric stoves and refrigerators. Vacationers are provided with bed linen and dishes.

Among the amenities in the tent city there is electricity. Tourists who come to Lake Tus can pitch their own tents.

In summer, the recreation center accommodates up to 128 people; in winter, only the cottage is open.

On the territory of the camp site there is a shop and a cafe for 50 people, a bathhouse, a sauna and a hot shower, a volleyball court and also a rental point for sports equipment: badminton rackets, catamarans, balls, bicycles. Sun loungers are provided for vacationers on the sandy beach.

The recreation center "Voskhod" offers its clients wellness treatments. This is a cedar phyto-barrel, massage bed, therapeutic massage, pressotherapy. In the evenings, there are discos and other entertainment events for the whole family on the beach.

Children of any age are accepted, but only if accompanied by an adult. The territory of the base is constantly guarded.

Recreation center "Na Tus"

This camp site, located on the southern shore of the lake, a hundred meters from the water, was opened not so long ago, in 2010. Tourists are accommodated in five two-room houses with a total capacity of 30 people. The houses have electricity, and guests are provided with bedding. In addition, on the territory there is a bathhouse, toilet, outbuildings, and an outdoor shower with imported fresh water.

Each house is divided into two parts with separate entrances. In rooms of 9 sq. m, designed for three people, there are double and single beds arranged in tiers, a table and electrical sockets. On an area of 6 sq. m equipped kitchen: table with bench, refrigerator, gas stove, kettle, dishes, washstand.

Imported drinking water for household needs is available in sufficient quantities, but there is no drinking water here. There is no infrastructure at the camp site, so you need to bring your own water for drinking and food.

The cost of living in June and August is 1800 rubles, in July the price is slightly more expensive - 2100 rubles. The price includes electricity, water, shower, beach. Residents of the camp site can use the parking lot and barbecue for free. Visit to the bathhouse - 600 rubles (per hour).

Recreation center "Living Water"

The camp site is located at the foot of the mountains in one of the most beautiful places. Newly renovated summer houses with partial amenities are located 300 m from Lake Tus. They have an area of 12 square meters. m and are designed for two (with a maximum occupancy of up to 4 people). In total, there are 7 houses at the camp site, intended for 14 vacationers. Each room has two beds, a wardrobe, a table and

The houses have electricity, but no cold or hot water, or sewerage. Fresh water for household and food needs is located in a specially designated place and is delivered to the houses by the vacationers themselves. In addition, there are cold showers and toilets on site.

The shared kitchen is located outside under a canopy. Electric stoves and kitchenware are provided to everyone. The cook at the camp site, specializing in oriental cuisine, can prepare dishes to order. The administrator has two refrigerators where food can be stored. There is a small retail outlet on site where you can buy the necessary products: bread, tea, juices, drinking water, chocolate, canned food, fruits, vegetables and more.

You can rent a house for at least 4 days. The cost in June and August will be 550 rubles, in July a little more expensive - 600 rubles.

The cost of living includes the supply of fresh water, electricity, shower, and parking. For bed linen (one set) you will have to pay 100 rubles, rent of a barbecue - 50 rubles per day. One child under 4 years old has the right to free accommodation without a bed; a child from 4 to 7 years old can relax at a camp site for half the price.

And yet, mostly nature lovers, thrill-seekers, but not comfortable hotels, go to these regions. And it doesn’t matter which recreation center is chosen, Lake Tusa is the main goal of the trip, a source of delight and unforgettable impressions.

For several years now I have been dreaming of going to the Bolivian Lake Uyuni. Actually from the very moment I saw his photographs. It is fabulously beautiful, fabulously huge, spacecraft even calibrate their remote sensing instruments in its mirror! I’ll probably get to it someday and write a full post with my photos. But in Turkey there is Lake Tuz. We were just driving by until I suddenly realized that this was practically the same as Uyuni, only seven times smaller in area. And, as befits such lakes, it is seasonal. And it is in winter that there is not an endless pan of salt, but a small layer of water that provides a mirror. So we turned right from the Aksaray-Ankara highway and went to the Tuz bank.

The full name of this place is Tuz Golu. Golu means lake and Tuz means salty. Strictly speaking, for most of the year it is not Golu at all, but simply a salt marsh, a huge patch of salt with an area of 1600-2500 square kilometers. We turned off the highway in the village of Shereflikokhhisar and drove along country roads to the coast. The only people we came across were dump trucks loaded with salt. So 15 minutes later we got to the salt plant. Short negotiations with the guard and we were already allowed inside. At some point we even drove straight out onto a salt marsh, there were car tracks there and I wasn’t bothered by this road. But as soon as we left, it immediately became scary, as if we had entered the ice and it was about to collapse. Everything under the wheels is white. We returned back and walked. The landscapes are interesting, but everything is killed by the gloomy gray sky, which gave Cappadocia fog, but here it’s just gray. Honestly, some of the photos here were pulled out by the ACDSee program (by lightly pressing the "auto-level" button). This is an extremely honest report. But the place is really interesting!

heaps of salt

That's how we walked. depth 1 cm

one of the piles has almost melted

salt loading train

under your feet

By the way, Petra liked the salty water

A cemetery was discovered very close to the salt mining. So classic, completely abandoned, unkempt, in the middle of thorns, rocky steppe, blown by a hot salty wind. It is impossible to read any of the inscriptions; one can only guess about the age. Classic!

Subsequently, a stopping place, like a tourist stop, was still visible along the highway. Souvenirs, all sorts of crafts made from salt, even sunbeds (to sunbathe and coat yourself?). But it seemed crowded, littered and boring. They just ignored it and moved on. And the most impressive sight awaited not where salt is mined or where there is an equipped tourist site, but simply on the shore. I couldn't stand it and stopped again. I left all the passengers in the car (they refused to walk with me because of the cold wind) and ran to the lake. The last 50 meters - it was really a salt marsh, fortunately it did not suck too much. But then I was rewarded with that very mirror, when the sky is reflected under your feet, and you stand on the mirror. The depth of the lake along its shores slowly and smoothly increases from 1 centimeter to 2 centimeters, so it was difficult to get wet. It is much more difficult to take a photograph without a tripod; it was impossible to place the camera in two centimeters of salt water until I adapted the camera case for it. For a moment the sun came out. More precisely, the gray haze of the clouds broke through a little, and a piece of blue sky looked out. It became absolutely fantastic, but after a couple of shots I quickly ran back to the car.

Now there is a pause in the observation of salt lakes. Let's hope before Uyuni.

The remaining photos from the sudden stop on the highway:

this is the beach

and footprints on the beach

Turkey extracts most of its salts from one of the most protected lakes called Tuz. In Turkish it sounds like Tuz Gölü, which literally means Salt Lake when translated into Russian. About three officially registered mines are used for salt extraction. Tuz is one of the largest lakes found in Turkey. It absorbs two deep streams and forms a salt marsh. However, in the summer, when the sun's light reaches an elevated temperature, more than eighty percent of the lake dries up, and a thirty-centimeter layer of salt appears. Precipitation and underground sources help maintain balance. In winter, the salt layer disappears due to the large amount of fresh water that comes from nearby surface and groundwater.

This natural wonder is located in Central Anatolia, just two hours' drive from Konya. Local residents diligently engage in the industry related to salt processing and its sale in countless markets in Turkey. By the way, Turkey annually pumps out about one hundred and fifty tons of salt here, which in its chemical composition is very similar to table salt. The bacteria and microalgae contained in Lake Tuz give the water a red tint under high ultraviolet radiation. Such changes in color, like a magnet, attract entire flocks of flamingos, kestrels and a huge number of white-fronted geese.

Most tourists come from Ankara, as the journey takes only 3 hours. The area of this attraction is one thousand five hundred square kilometers, although the depth varies from 1 to 3 meters, depending on the time of year. A huge amount of reed grows on the southern shore of the lake. Lake Tuz received the status of a specially protected area only in 2001, after an increase in the Flamingo population on the nearby islands. In addition, scientists have found that most of the water is spent filling the tectonic depression.

When more than 90 percent of the water evaporates, Lake Tuz turns into a white desert, reminiscent of a snowy meadow, consisting of bright salt crystals. According to the Aksaray University of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, the condition of the lake has deteriorated by eighty-five percent over the past hundred years, and under current conditions, Tuz is in danger of extinction. If the Turkish government cannot do anything to improve conditions, then perhaps future tourists will not be able to see this beauty. Therefore, it is worth taking the opportunity and traveling to the province of Anatolia.

Lake Tuz is the second largest lake in Turkey after Lake. The dimensions of the lake are 80 kilometers long, 50 kilometers wide and only 1-2 meters deep. Its area is 1665 square kilometers. In ancient times, the Greeks called it the “Phrygian Sea”. Lake Tuz is drainless; only small streams and the small Melendiz River (a river flowing along the bottom of the canyon) flow into it. This is why the water in the lake is very salty. The salinity of the water in the lake is about 340 ‰ (340 grams of salt per liter of water). In summer, most of the water in the lake evaporates and almost half of the lake's territory is covered with a dazzling white layer of salt. The thickness of this layer in some places reaches half a meter, making it possible to walk along the lake.

With the arrival of winter, the water reserves in the lake are replenished and the lake becomes full again. Due to winter and spring precipitation, the water level in the lake rises in spring, resulting in the lake's area reaching 2,500 square kilometers. The lake is fed mainly by precipitation and underground sources, and there are no rivers flowing from the lake. Lake Tuz is where 70% of Turkey's table salt is produced, which amounts to up to a million tons of salt per year. Large salt production plants are located in the northern part of the lake.

In the southern part of the lake there is a group of islands. Here the shores are swampy in places. This is probably why a large population of pink flamingos nests here. Often, most of the lake is colored red-pink. The main reason for this is the proliferation of unicellular algae of the species Dunaliella salina. If the spring has been very rainy, sensing a decrease in the salinity of the water, the algae decides to protect itself and begins to produce glycerol and vitamin A, which make up a compound known as beta-carotene. It is beta-carotene that colors water. These algae also serve as food for crustaceans of the brine shrimp species (Artemia salina), and flamingos feed on crustaceans, which, in turn, gives the characteristic pink color to the plumage of these birds.