Koyashskoye Salt Lake

Koyashskoye is a salt lake located on the coast of the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea, and separated from the Black Sea by a strip of land. Likemany salt lakes around the world, the waters of Koyashskoye has an impressive pink hue, due to the presence of a microscopic algae that thrive in the saline water. The lake is not large — about 4 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide, and quite shallow with an average depth of just one meter. Because of its shallowness, countless tiny, rocky islands dot the lake’s surface. When the water evaporates, the salt in the lake crystallizes around these rocks and the shores, producing crystal stones and the scent of viola.

The lake is not widely known to the tourists but popular among the locals who say the lake’s mud contain healing properties. The lake belongs to Opuksky Nature Reserve that was created in 1998.