In Türkiye, the Salt Lake is seeing its waters and life dry up

In the heart of Anatolia, a salt lake of breathtaking beauty. Pink flamingos and Turkish salt workers keep a threatened site popular with tourists alive. In the heart of Turkey, Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake in Turkish), the second largest lake in the country, is renowned for its natural splendor and its economic importance. But it faces chronic drought and dwindling water resources.

Hundreds of pink flamingos, however, continue to feed in these shallow waters, barely 50 centimeters, their pink and red wings providing striking scenes at sunset over the immense salt flats.

The lake remains one of the most important preferred habitats in the country for the species as well as for many other birds.

It accounts for two thirds of national salt production. Heavy machines harvest it in layers, which trucks transport to processing facilities.

Tuz Gölü remains an essential source of livelihood, watched by tourists eager for selfies and photos of their own reflections on the shimmering surface, against a background of a thousand colors. Behind this wild beauty, however, lies a terrible water crisis.

According to a 2024 study at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, the intensive use of groundwater for agricultural purposes in the closed Konya Basin, a few dozen kilometers to the east, has increased the lake's vulnerability to drought. The study reveals that only 3% of precipitation falling on the basin reaches the lake.

In July 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture reported the death of around 1,000 flamingo chicks, attributing the deaths to water shortages and increased salinity levels, which deprived the chicks of sufficient water.

The future of the site, where wildlife, human work and tourism coexist, will depend on the effective protection of its resources, which global warming makes a little more rare each year.