Lake Tuz

Lake Tuz is Turkey’s second-largest lake, located in central Anatolia. It dries out in summer, leaving a dense crust of salt, and fills again in winter from rainfall and runoff. During the dry season, algae turn the remaining water red or pink. Greater flamingos and almost 80 other bird species nest here, and since 2001 the lake and surrounding steppes have been protected as a natural area.

An old legend tells that a vineyard belonging to a miserly elderly woman once stood where Lake Tuz is now. A tired dervish asked her for grapes but was refused, and in anger he cursed her. A salt lake immediately appeared in place of the garden and has remained there ever since.