Holidaymakers are flocking to a remote saltwater lake in Siberia to dip their feet in a magical lake that turns pink every August.

The natural phenomenon has been an annual summer show for longer than anyone can remember, and is luring an increasing number of tourists to Russia's mountainous Altai region.

It looks like something has spilled into the water, but experts said Lake Burlinskoye gets its unusual colour from pink-tinted microorganisms beneath the surface.

People are flocking to a remote region in Siberia to dip their feet in Lake Burlinskoye, which turns pink every summer

The natural phenomenon has been an annual summer show in Siberia for longer than anyone can remember

Experts said Lake Burlinskoye gets its unusual colour from pink-tinted microorganisms beneath the surface

Soviet engineers built a railway into the shallow waters in the 1700s, with special trains to mine the salt

With hotter weather in recent years, however, the lake is turning pink earlier, which is put down by locals to climate change.

This summer it changed colour between two or three weeks earlier than usual.

Before and after its annual pink phase, the lake reverts to blue on sunny days, and a murky grey during overcast weather.

The reason for the phenomenon?

There are microorganisms in the salt lake called Artemia salina, a three-eyed, 11-legged brine shrimp that swims upside down.

This species of pink-tinted aquatic crustaceans have been around with few changes for as long as 100 million years.

With hotter weather in recent years, however, the lake is turning pink earlier. Locals have blamed climate change

This summer Lake Burlinskoye changed from blue to pink between two or three weeks earlier than usual

Catherine the Great insisted that the salt on her palace tables must come from this Siberian source

It was in 1768 that a nearby settlement was first established to extract salt from Lake Burlinskoye commercially

Salt production ceased in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, but it has now started once more at the endorheic lake

In the past, Lake Burlinskoye had connections to the old Russian royal family.

Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, insisted that the salt on her palace tables must come from this Siberian source.

'From now on, I order to bring to the tsar's table only Burlinskaya salt,' she commanded.

It was in 1768 that a nearby settlement was first established to extract the salt commercially.

Soviet engineers built a railway into the shallow waters, with special trains equipped with 'harvesters' to mine the salt.

Salt production ceased in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, but it has now started once more at the endorheic lake - which has now water flowing in or out.

Culled from Mail Online