MARILYN CORNWELL: June 14 2020 - What makes the Lake turn pink?

They aren't sure what makes the lake turn pink, but famous Lonar Lake has turned pink this week. They think it may be: increased salinity in the water, the presence of algae or a combination of both. The lake is 500 kilometres east of Mumbai, India. The video and story are HERE. It is an impact crater lake, caused by a meteor hitting the earth about 50,000 years ago. The water in the lake is both saline and alkaline, according to Wikipedia. The Lonar salts are derived from an unknown source in the bed of the lake. And the lake has two distinct regions that do not mix - an outer neutral and an inner alkaline. Each has its own flora and fauna. The lake appears green for most of the year. You can go to the Wikipedia site, and see the lake green and then pink. The link is HERE.

When I looked at the link, it said "travel/2020". Can travel be a normal subject term anymore? It has changed significantly in just a few months. Now travel topics are about restrictions on flights and travel advisories from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. A Wall Street Journal's article outlines how difficult "vacation travel" is right now and it does say that some countries are allowing in residents of neighbouring nations, creating a "tourism bubble." There's an urgency to be able to reopen for tourists.

That's because $2.9 trillion U.S. is at stake globally. Did you know that the city and special administrative region of Macau (in China) generated the highest share of GDP through direct travel and tourism of any economy worldwide at just over 50%? It is largely based on casino gaming and tourism.

My interest in travel and tourism is garden tourism. And our picture today was taken at Butchard Gardens last September. With the addition of one of the dramatic Skylum skies, a section of the garden with its composition of the plants and trees takes on a sense of drama. Our second picture of a model railroad has its own drama - there's a strange skull collection in the bottom left. I wonder what the railroad story is there.