Kulunda: Steppe of Pink Lakes

Description

A two-day excursion to the west of Altai Krai, into Kulundinskaya Steppe — the country of endorheic salt lakes, where horizons are continuous, wind is constant, and the water sometimes turns pink. About 290 kilometers on steppe roads; the best season is from June to August, when the water is warmed and colors are more pronounced. Start at Malinovoye Lake in Mikhaylovsky District: a bitter-salty endorheic lake at an altitude of 154 meters, whose name speaks for itself — in warm seasons the water and salt deposits on the shores give pink-magenta tones, the effect is known from salt lakes of several continents. The steppe around gives the lake complete solitude: no resorts, no crowds — only wind, the rails of the Kulunda–Rubtsovsk railway line and photographers "for the color". Further — Kulundinskoye, the largest lake of the region: 728 square kilometers of water area, about 35 kilometers across, weakly saline and shallow. The eastern part is cut by islands and bays, the western part is flat, with many sandbars where locals go swimming, as at the sea. The finish is Bolshoye Yarovoye and the city of Yarovoye on its bank. This is brine in its pure form: a saturated salt solution, salt marshes, healing muds — in summer the water holds a swimmer almost like the Dead Sea, and sunsets over flat water became a local brand. The city itself is a straightforward industrial history: founded in 1943 as a settlement near a bromine factory evacuated from Perekop, eighteen kilometers from the border with Kazakhstan; today this is a steppe resort with sanatoriums, beaches and a bio-park. Rinse from brine with fresh water, and stay deep into the night: over the steppe is a starry scatter without light pollution.