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Where in the World is the Boiling Lake?
The heart of the Valley of Desolation
So far in this series, we have traveled to Australia to explore the bubblegum pink lake, Lake Hillier. We’ve awed at the mysteries located in the depths of the Pearl of Siberia, Lake Baikal. We have even trembled on the shores of Lake Natron, located in Tanzania, whose waters turn animals to stone.
This week’s journey takes us to a body of water that is just burning for visitors!
The Boiling Lake
The name Boiling Lake is pretty straightforward, as it is the second-largest lake in the world with waters that are literally boiling. Located in Morne Trois Pitons National Park on Dominica, a Caribbean island, it sits 6.5 miles from the island’s capital, Roseau. The area surrounding the lake is known as the Valley of Desolation.
The lake is tinted a bluish-grey and is usually blanketed with a cloud of steam rising from its bubbling water. Measuring approximately 200 to 250 feet across, its true depths are unknown, not only because of dramatic changes in the levels but the inability of anyone to physically go in and measure the depths.
The first recorded sighting of this natural wonder was in 1870 by two Englishmen working in Dominica, Edmund Watt, and Henrey Alfred Alford Nicholls…