Magic Lake

The lake is a small body of spring-fed water in a bowl of desert near the Wadi El Rayan protectorate, and its local name comes from the way the water reads differently through the day: pale turquoise under high sun, grey and metallic when cloud passes, and orange and pink at either end of the day as the surrounding sand throws colour back at it. Dunes come right down to the shore on one side, which is why sandboarding has become the standard activity here, and the shallow warm edges are sometimes used for bathing. It sits close to the fossil beds of the wider protectorate, and the ground around it carries the same shell and bone fragments. Camping on the dune above the lake is the reason many groups come.

What you actually see

• Water that shifts colour - turquoise to orange as the light turns.
• Dunes running into the shore - sand slopes used for boarding.
• Desert camping ground - the ridge above the lake, a standard overnight spot.
• Fossil fragments in the sand - shells and bone from the ancient sea.

When to go

October to April, and either sunrise or sunset for the colour that gives the lake its name. Weekends bring groups from Cairo with boards and quad bikes; weekdays are quiet. Half a day, or overnight if camping.

Honest expectations

It is small and the colour effect depends entirely on light and weather; on a flat grey day it is an ordinary pond. Quad bikes are noisy and damage the dunes. There are no facilities at all and litter is a problem after weekends. Getting there without four-wheel-drive is unreliable.

Nearby

Wadi El Rayan is adjacent; Tunis village and Lake Qarun are north-east.