Visit to the Salt Lake (Tuz Golu)

Right after our lunch at Anit Lezzet, we headed off to the Salt Lake or Tuz Golu in Turkish, which means saline lake.  We actually walked to Tuz Golu from the back of a souvenir shop.  It was the only souvenir shop that we had to pay to use its toilet.

There is a path from the shop leading to the lake.



There was nothing much to it until I discovered that I was standing on the second largest lake in Turkey and one of the biggest salt lake in the world as well.  I read that it covers a huge area of 1500 square kilometers and a large proportion of Turkey’s salt requirements were met by the lake. 

Are you are wondering why there are flamingos with the signage too?  I read that in spring you can see Flamingos there.  As a colony of them has made Tuz Golu its home, the region is now a protected area under the Tuz Lake Integrated Conservation Management Plan.  If you would like to see flamingos, you will have to visit Tuz Gölü in the late spring and summer, which should be from mid June to September. 

For most of the year the lake is very shallow.  Visitors are able to stand on the lake because much of the water had evaporated leaving a tick crust of salt on the surface.  In summer, the crust can be up to 30cm in depth. 

From the photo, it looked like we are standing on desert sands but the surface was very hard.

It was very windy there.


You can see the salt formation more clearly in this photo.

 We thought that we could walk to the edge to touch the water but it was just too far away.


Do not miss out buying sourvenirs from the shop.  We discovered that the stuff there were relatively cheaper when compared to other sourvenir shops in other locations that we visited later.  

As Yavuz had us advsied earlier, we should always buy what the site is famous for. There are cosmetic products made of minerals from the water, salt and mud of Tuz Golu which are popular for their healing properties. This photo from Wikipedia will give you an idea of the kind of product you can find in a gift shop at Tuz Golu.


Other than sourvenirs, you can also find in the shop products that are derived from salt.

Click on the link to check out photos shared at another location of Tuz Golu. 






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