Lake Elton

Elton covers about a hundred and fifty square kilometres, which makes it the largest salt lake in Europe by area, but it is only ten to seventy centimetres deep - a sheet of brine over black mineral mud on flat steppe close to the Kazakh border. The water is several times saltier than the sea, and in summer the algae and halobacteria that survive in it turn the surface pink to deep red, sharpest in the heat. Seven rivers run in and none run out; the salt has been harvested since the eighteenth century. A spa has used the mud here since 1910 and a sanatorium since 1945, and it still operates at the village on that basis, with the usual caveat that what mud therapy does is a question for clinical literature and a doctor rather than a travel page. Around the lake the Eltonsky natural park protects feather-grass steppe, Mount Ulagan, salt marsh and a substantial migratory bird list.

History

Salt was dug from the lake from the early 18th century, by the state until 1865 and by private firms from 1865 to 1882, and a spa has stood near the lake since 1910 and a sanatorium since 1945. The surface lies 18 metres below sea level, and the name comes from the Mongol Altyn-Nor, the golden bottom (Wikipedia, Lake Elton).

What you'll find

• The pink water - halophile algae and bacteria colouring a shallow brine sheet.
• The scale - about a hundred and fifty square kilometres, at most seventy centimetres deep.
• The black mud - mineral sediment used at the village spa since 1910.
• The steppe - feather-grass plain and salt marsh with large bird passage.

When to go

May to September, with the colour strongest in the summer heat. A day or an overnight. Spring brings the birds and green steppe.

What to expect

Therapeutic claims about the mud are for clinicians, not travel writing - ask a doctor. Brine is corrosive to skin, eyes and camera gear, and there is no shade anywhere. Summer temperatures on the steppe exceed forty degrees. Facilities amount to the village and sanatorium.

Nearby

Baskunchak and Bolshoye Bogdo are south in Astrakhan region; Volgograd is west.

Key facts