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Lake natron location8/5/2023 As isolated as the lake is (it wasn't even discovered by Europeans until 1954), there are no protections in place for the lake or its threatened flamingo population.įollow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Fringed by salt-encrusted flats and black volcanic protrusions, this remote and brooding 1,040-square-kilometre soda lake lies below the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai. The serenity of Lake Natron - and its flamingo population - are threatened by a proposed hydroelectric power plant on the Ewaso Ngiro River, the main river feeding the lake. As shallow lakes in a hot climate, their water temperatures can reach as high as 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius). Both are terminal lakes that do not drain out to any river or sea they are fed by hot springs and small rivers. Lake Natron is one of two alkaline lakes in that area of East Africa the other is Lake Bahi. The flamingos' nests are built on small islands that form in the lake during the dry season. “There was never any possibility of bending a wing or turning a head to make a better pose – they were like rock.”īut why don’t the animals fully decompose?ĭavid Harper, an ecologist at the University of Leicester, told NBC News that a body would decompose if it fell anywhere else, “but on the edge of the lake, it just gets encrusted in salt and stays forever”.During breeding season, more than 2 million lesser flamingos ( Phoenicopterus minor) use the shallow lake as their primary breeding ground in Africa. The calcification made their bodies extremely hard. But there’s no evidence the lake is the “deadliest place for animals”.īrandt told Huffington Post that the “soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry”. Huffington Post quotes Brandt as saying in his book that “no one knows for certain” how the animals die, “but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, causing them to crash into the lake”. The collection has been turned into a book, and includes several other photos of flying animals “petrified” by the soda lake. The photos are part of Brandt’s Across the Ravaged Land collection, snapped from 2010 to 2012. National Geographic says the photos were taken by photographer Nick Brandt, who “unexpectedly found the dead animals that had washed up on the shore, preserved by the lake, and posed them as they had been in life”. The lake is the only regular breeding area in East Africa for the 2.5 million Lesser Flamingoes. The lake’s water is a concentrate of a caustic alkaline brine due to its significant amounts of carbonate and low levels of calcium and magnesium. Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in the eastern branch of the East African Rift. Lake Natron - soda lake located in northern Tanzania Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake’s high alkalinity can reach a pH of more than 12 and the surrounding bedrock is “composed of alkaline, sodium-dominated trachyte lavas that were laid down during the Pleistocene period”. But is it “deadly” for animals, turning any that enter its waters to stone? We investigated.Īccording to the Tanzania Tourist Board, Lake Natron is a soda lake where high levels of evaporation have left behind the minerals natron and trona. Lake Natron is a real lake in the East African country of Tanzania. “Any animal which enters the lake turns into stone-like structure.” “Natron lake in Tanzania is the most deadliest place for animals,” the text reads. Lake Natron is a shallow sliver of hyper-alkaline water best known as the primary nursing ground for East Africas 2.5 million lesser flamingos. A graphic doing the rounds on Facebook shows three eerie photos of grey, sculpture-like animals – a bat and two birds.
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