If you are interested in seeing the place where professional balneology was first practiced in the Russian Empire, go to the west of the Crimean peninsula, to the town of Saki. In the days of the Crimean Khanate, this settlement belonged to the famous Mansurov family. The annexation of Crimea to Russia attracted the attention of the nobility, who had previously studied all the balneological resorts of Europe, to the mud and waters of Saki Lake. In 1827 the first mud cure clinic was built on its shore. In 1837, a branch of Simferopol military hospital was opened here, and during the Crimean War, when the coalition army landed in the area of Saki, the salt water reservoir became famous throughout Europe.
Sak Lake is part of the group of so-called Yevpatoria lakes. In addition to our reservoir, this «collective» includes Moinatskoye Lake, Donuzlav, Sasyk and 13 other less known hydrological objects. All of them are of estuarine origin. That is, once they were connected with the sea, replenished by its waters, but the creative work of waves minimized their connection with the parent body of water. Not having sufficient inflow of weakly saline water, and being in conditions with minimal moistening — 400 mm of precipitation per year, all Evpatoria lakes reached the level of mineralization exceeding 50 ppm. Such salinization regime gave them the fame of Ukrainian Dead Lakes and created conditions for the formation of unique mud at the bottom of the reservoirs. The history of formation of Saksky Lake was studied by the best geologist of the USSR — Academician Fersman.
So, this body of water has an area of 9.7 km², and its greatest depth reaches 1.52 meters. The peculiarity of Saki Lake is its division into five parts. The first part is the raw material base for the local chemical plant. It was used to extract raw materials for the production of methyl bromide and potassium permanganate, but fortunately, in 2002 the enterprise ceased its activities.
The second part is the location of all Saki mud cures, including the famous Burdenko sanatorium, specializing in spinal patients. The treatment uses silt sapropelic mud, brine and mineral water from wells drilled on the territory of the institutions. Complex use of resources of Saksky Lake improves metabolic processes in tissues and in the body as a whole, stimulates blood circulation and functions of the cardiovascular system. Especially valued is their ability to affect the regeneration processes in tissues, especially in bone, nervous and muscular. Therefore, treatment at Saksky Lake is most often the only means of improving the condition of people with cerebral palsy, arthritis, osteochondrosis, for those who need quality rehabilitation, as well as chronic patients of gynecologists.
The third part of the reservoir is the so-called «buffer reservoir». All the material used in the mud cures is poured into it. Here the water undergoes self-purification, and the silt eventually reproduces its healing properties. In the extreme east of the lake is the «Mikhailovskoye» section. It is the most fresh. It is here that the local Jordan — the only river that carries its waters to Saksky Lake — flows into. The last, northernmost part of the reservoir — Tobe-Chokrak, has become a place of private development. There are many private hotels, whose guests use the balneological resources of the lake, but live in comfortable conditions, as close to home as possible.
In addition to treatment, every guest holidaying in Saki, has the opportunity to go to holiday in Sevastopol, to see Balaklava, explore the cleanest city in Ukraine — Yevpatoria, or go diving off the coast of the Tarkhankuta Peninsula.