Maharloo Lake

Maharloo Lake, also known as the Salt Lake, is one of the lakes of Fars Province in Iran. It lies 20 kilometres southeast of Shiraz, between the city and Sarvestan, and covers an area of 600 square kilometres. The lake is at most 28 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide, and its deepest point reaches 3 metres.

Three seasonal rivers, which are dry for part of the year, feed Maharloo Lake: the Shiraz, Soltanabad and Sarvestan rivers. The flamingo is the lake's most important bird species. Other resident birds include the coot, the shelduck, gulls, the ruddy shelduck, the Eurasian curlew, waders, herons, the mallard and other ducks. The water of Maharloo Lake is extremely salty and contains sodium chloride, magnesium and sodium sulphate. In the dry seasons it turns into one of Iran's largest salt deposits. Because of the high salinity, no fish live in the lake, but a variety of amphibians, reptiles and mammals can be seen around it.

In the wetter seasons Maharloo Lake is blue. As the weather warms up and sunlight increases, algae growth picks up. Nutrients entering from urban sewage and agricultural runoff encourage even more growth of algae and salt-loving bacteria. As temperatures and evaporation rise in summer, the lake's salinity increases too. To protect themselves from intense sunlight, the Dunaliella salina algae and the salt-loving bacteria produce a red pigment called astaxanthin, which turns the lake's water pink. The best time to visit Maharloo Lake is from the beginning of autumn until mid-Ordibehesht (early May), when the lake is full and the weather is pleasant.