Hope-Despair

Perhaps the second most famous pink lake in Australia, Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is a glittering salt pan basin stretching hundreds of kilometres northeast of Adelaide. When flooded with rain during the wet season it becomes the largest lake in Australia and a mecca for birdlife, fish and wildflowers. As the lake starts to empty, the pigment of an algae that’s particularly fond of salt causes the water to turn a striking shade of pink.



During the 2021-22 summer in Australia, local rainfall and floodwaters linked to La Niña began to fill Lake Eyre, attracting the attention of photographers across the country to document this rare natural event.