Lac Iriqui is a vast, usually dry salt lake in the hammada (stony desert) northwest of M'Hamid. In wet years, winter rains can fill the depression with a shallow sheet of water that attracts thousands of flamingos and other wading birds, transforming the barren landscape into something extraordinary. In dry years — which is most years — the cracked white salt pan is equally remarkable: a perfectly flat, blinding white expanse that stretches to the horizon.
The lake is best accessed by 4x4 from M'Hamid and is often included in desert excursions heading toward Chegaga. The drive across the hammada between M'Hamid and Iriqui passes through some of the most austere landscape in Morocco — low gravel plains interrupted by occasional rocky outcrops, with the dunes occasionally visible to the south.