Red Lagoon or Laguna Colorada is located 14,000 feet above sea level on the Bolivian Plateau, which is located famous Andes Mountains on the South American continent. This lake is called Red Lagoon since the water in this lake is blood red color. This Lagoon belongs to the Bolivian most visited protected area of the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. Lake surrounding is margin to the border of Chile. The surrounding area is dominated by desert rocks and salt deposits.
Red Lagoon
With spreading over 15,000 acres, this red lake is genuinely a salt lake and is about 3 feet deep. The reason for the blood-red color of the water in this salt lake is the variety of living Algae species. The red lagoon is one of the main breeding areas of the beautiful Flamingo birds.
formation of the surrounding lakes
Several such saltwater lakes on the Bolivian Plateau are different in color due to the living algae species. Red Lagoon is the only red color large lake on the Bolivian plateau. On the other hand, Laguna Verde and other several lakes are emerald-green in color. Rainwater mixed with minerals is coming from the tall mountain ranges for over a thousand years. Those accumulate in the polder of the Bolivian plateau. These saline lakes are then created by the evaporation of high summer temperatures and convene of brine-rich water. However, in the rest seasons, the temperature is often below the freezing point.
Biodiversity of the Laguna Colorada
The area of the Laguna Colorada is rich in biodiversity, where indigenous birds and various species of other animals live. In particular, three out of six species of endangered Flamingo live in this red salt lake area. James’s flamingo is very common in this area. However, other flamingo species such as Andean flamingo and Chilean flamingo can also be found in lesser quantities.
In addition to that, Puma leopards, Andean Foxes, Cat species, Reptile species, and Amphibians have inhabited the surrounding of the lake. Several fish species live in this unique red-colored water.
Flamingo Birds are common in the Red lagoon
Significance of the Red lagoon
Red Lagoon is part of the Ramsar wetland famous as Los Lípez in Bolivia. In 1990, it was designated as a Ramsar wetland of international importance. Los Lípez is formerly known as Laguna Colorada when it is listed as a Ramsar wetland. In July 2009, Los Lípez expanded nearly 28 times by adding surrounding highland Andean hypersaline lakes and brackish lakes and wetlands.
