Secret Life of Lakes

Tourists rarely venture to this remote lake, located on the border between Argentina and Chile in Patagonia. Considered one of the largest in South America, it is of incomparable beauty with its turquoise mountainside waters, marble caves and brightly coloured vegetation. In its depths, however, there is a strange violence.

Located in India, in the state of Odisha, Chillika is one of the largest coastal lakes in the world. Both a brackish water lagoon and a freshwater lake, it is home to the fauna and flora of both ecosystems. Dolphins, migratory birds, sea and river fish share biotopes that appear and disappear with changes in water levels, according to the seasons.

In the heart of the Dinaric Alps, the splendid Lake Skadar, shared by Montenegro and Albania, lives to the rhythm of spring floods and summer drought. The natural spaces that surround it hide remarkable fauna: bats, dragonflies and migratory birds thrive in places as surprising as abandoned bunkers, a mediaeval fortress or temporarily flooded plains.

Located in southern Finland, Lake Saimaa, with its thousands of islands and 15,000 kilometres of banks, is the fourth largest lake in Europe. Close to the Arctic Circle, it changes its appearance with the arrival of winter. For several months, Lake Saimaa is transformed into a huge labyrinth of frozen water and silence for the many aquatic and terrestrial species that populate it. Starting with an endangered species, the ringed seal, straight from the ice age...

Located in northeastern Tanzania, in a region with active volcanism, the mysterious Natron is a flat-bottomed lake whose depth does not exceed three metres, even at the height of the rainy season. The waters of the lake, which contain large amounts of mineral salts, are nevertheless essential to the survival of a huge colony of dwarf flamingoes. On its banks, Maasai farmers preserve an ancestral way of life.