A train driving across the bed of a drained area near the salt harvesting site of the Burlinskoye salt lake in the Altai region of Russia on Wednesday.

Located near the Kazakhstan border, this lake in Siberia turns a bright candy pink every summer as the population of microscopic pink-tinted brine shrimp that lives beneath its surface peaks.

The lake is the largest single salt deposit in western Siberia and is a steady source for table salt. So highly regarded was it by Russian royalty that Peter I called it the Royal Salt Shaker, while Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, insisted that only its salt be allowed to grace her palace tables.

To harvest the salt, trains equipped with special tools disturb the lake bed and collect the stirred-up sediment in the cars towed behind. 

Besides its unusual colour, Burlinskoye lake also draws flocks of visitors in search of the healing properties said to be found in its salt and mud.