Lake Salagou is a story of water set against fire-red earth. In the heart of the Hérault and the Languedoc lies a lake quite unlike any other, and what makes it exceptional is, first of all, that striking contrast between the limpid water and the arid landscape around it — joined by a geological richness and a biodiversity almost unique in the world. Together they create a marvellous setting for outdoor leisure, or simply for breathing in the fresh air with the family.
The first thing that strikes you is the colour. Salagou — a name with the accents of the Midi — works its magic the instant you arrive: hills of red earth (the "ruffes," iron-oxide-laden clay sediments), water mirroring the blue of the sky, black rocks bearing witness to a volcanic past, and the yellow of the broom in spring. It's an intense chromatic palette that leaves you speechless, shifting with every season, where time seems to stop so you can simply contemplate it.
For all that it looks eternal, the lake is in fact artificial. Salagou began as a small river, dammed at the end of the 1960s to irrigate the surrounding crops and regulate the floods of the Lergue and the Hérault. Work started in 1964 and the filling was complete by 1969 — helped by abundant rains, with one violent storm famously filling the lake halfway in just three days. Held back by a dam 957 metres long and 62 metres high, built from 1,650,000 tonnes of basalt, it became the largest stretch of water in the Hérault: 750 hectares in area, a 28-kilometre shoreline, 7 kilometres long, reaching depths of up to 70 metres and holding some 125 million cubic metres of clear water — home to catfish over a metre long.
Beneath the beauty lies an extraordinary geological story. This is one of the rare places on Earth where the remnants of all three geological eras can be seen in one spot: the ever-present red ruffes date back more than 270 million years, while the black peaks and humps of volcanic remains, like the Neck de la Roque, are a mere 1.5 million years young, with discordant yellow rocks and marine limestone deposits from the secondary era in between. People come from all over the world to witness these phenomena — and at the nearby paleontological slab of La Lieude in Mérifons, you can even see the tracks of pre-mammalian reptiles far older than the dinosaurs (a replica is shown at the Musée de Lodève).
The landscapes, fauna, and flora are carefully protected. The surroundings of the Salagou valley and the Cirque de Mourèze are classified by the State as remarkable landscapes and recognised as a Grand Site de France — a kind of natural Chambord or Mont-Saint-Michel — as well as a Natura 2000 site at the heart of the Géoparc Terres d'Hérault, a UNESCO candidate. Among the wealth of species, 21 European-protected birds nest in this mosaic of habitats, including the Eurasian eagle-owl, Bonelli's eagle, the ortolan bunting, and the Dartford warbler.
On land, in the water, and even in the air, one never tires of it. Whatever the season, a day at the Salagou is a bubble out of time — the ideal spot for a hike, a mountain-bike or horseback ride, a windsurf or paddle outing, a tack across the water by catamaran or kite, or simply for watching the little ones splash about, hunt for crayfish, and learn the joys of nature. A peerless natural jewel, right in the heart of the Hérault.