The bizarre pink lake Hillier, located in Australia, to this day provokes astonishment with its pink color, for which there is still no logical and scientific explanation.
Lake Hillier lies on the largest Australian island, Middle Island, which is part of the Recherche Archipelago.
The pink waters of the lake look as if the water basin is artificially created, but the fact is that the water is simply pink. The pink color is so distinct that even passengers from an airplane can enjoy the view of the pink lake.
The pink waters remain a complete mystery to scientists. The first investigation of Lake Hillier took place in 1950, with the team determined to uncover the secrets of the pink water.
It was believed that the water basin contained a peculiar species of seaweed, named Dunaliella salina, which consists of a red pigment and because of which the water of the lake is most likely that odd color.
But to the scientists' amazement, samples from the water showed no presence of that seaweed, and so the mystery of the pink water remains even today.
According to some scientists, the pink color is due to nutrients and various types of bacteria, but this claim remains unproven as well. Hillier is surrounded by a border of sand and eucalyptus trees.
The lake is shallow with a diameter of 1968 ft (600 m) and the water is completely harmless for swimming in, which leads many tourists to take a dip in the strange pink waters. The water is not poisonous and has no undesirable effects on human skin.
The first eyewitness accounts of the existence of the pink lake were from 1802, when the British sailor Matthew Flinders visited the area for the first time.
Between 1820 in 1840, whale and seal hunters settled on Middle Island for a short time. The island is amidst the Indian Ocean.
In the beginning of the 20th century, they began extracting salt on the Australian island but this continued for only 6 years, after which the people stopped operations and since then Middle Island remains uninhabited.
