Lake Retba , Senegal ( CNN ) -- On the edge of Senegal 's Cap Vert peninsula , a lush coastal region , lies Lake Retba ... a coral pink lake . Nestled between white sand dunes and the Atlantic Ocean , this unique body of water was once the finishing point of the off-road car race , the Dakar Rally . The three square kilometer fuchsia lake has been a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status since 2005 and is fast becoming one of Senegal 's most popular tourist destinations . While the rally may have shifted to South America five years ago , men and women from West Africa continue to come here for an entirely different reason -- to harvest salt . The salt content of Lake Retba or Lac Rose , as it 's locally known , rivals that of the Dead Sea -- exceeding 40 % salinity in some parts -- and it is a combination of the sun and a salt-loving micro-algae , dunaliella salina , which has turned the water a brilliant shade of strawberry pink . Men once used to fish in the lake but by the 1970s , in response to ongoing droughts and economic hardship , locals began to collect and sell salt to supplement their families ' income . 24-year-old Moussa Fame came from Mali to work in the lake seven years ago . He works alone , chest-high in the lake , for seven hours a day with the most basic of tools -- a basket , spade and stick . To protect his skin from the harsh salinity , Fame rubs shea butter on his body before entering the water . `` As a harvester , if you do n't put shea butter on your skin , the salt will damage it and cut you , '' he said . `` The longer you stay inside the lake , the larger the salty water makes your wounds . If you do not cover those wounds with shea butter , they will become worse . '' With a depth of only three meters , Fame paddles to his chosen area using a long stick to push against the bottom of the lake . The boat he rents is called a pirogue and is made of wood -- any engine or metal fixture would immediately start to rust . `` I know where to collect the salt from . When the stick I am using touches the salt , I can feel it , '' Fame said . `` If I find a place , I attach my boat and use the shovel to see if there is enough salt in that place . After that , I put the sticks in place and start piling the salt around those sticks . '' It is estimated 1,000 people work around this lake -- 600 men and 400 women who collect 24,000 tons of salt each year . `` The people working here as harvesters are Malians , some are Guineans , some Ivorians , Burkinabe and even some from Guinea-Bissau . There are also some Senegalese , '' Moussa said . It is mainly men who work as harvesters , filling their baskets with salt before heaving it over their heads into their boats . `` Sometimes I harvest 10 to 12 buckets , '' Fame said . By the time Fame paddles back , his 21-year-old wife , Mariame , is onshore , awaiting his return to carry the salt from boat to land . Fame makes 60 cents for each bucket of salt he collects . His wife earns five cents for every bucket she transports . In the midday heat , men and women move between piles of salt -- transporting , drying and trading the mineral . Over 70 % of it is exported around West Africa , particularly to the Ivory Coast . `` Here , we have two different types of salt , '' said Demba Dieng , a wholesaler who buys and re-sells salt . `` The first is called 'medium salt . ' This type of salt is bought by people drying fish or working in the leather industry . `` The 'big salt ' is the second type which we use in Senegal in our food , '' he said . `` However , in Europe , they use the 'big salt ' to melt ice on the roads . '' While most of Fame 's salt will be sold on , he has kept some for his family back in Mali in the hopes that one day , he can share it with his father , who also used to be a salt harvester on Lake Retba . `` It will be a gift to my mother that she will cook with , '' he said . More : Souks , sea and surf .
Bright pink lake in Senegal is as salty as the Dead Sea . The salt water has killed off most of the fish and other organisms that live there. Each bucket of salt makes them just 60 cents .