Does Lake Natron really turn animals to stone?
Does Lake Natron really turn animals to stone?
This lake is not very deep but it is mesmerizing, it appears to have a beautiful reflection. As beautiful as this lake appears, it is as dangerous. It turns animals to stone… In the northern region of Arusha close to the Kenyan border lies Tanzania’s Lake Natron.
Why is Lake Natron deadly?
Apart from sometimes turning red, another reason that Lake Natron is so unusual is that it’s incredibly caustic (alkaline) from the nearby volcano. This makes it poisonous to most animals. Animal and bird corpses can be found in and around the lake.
Can you touch Lake Natron?
The alkaline water in Lake Natron has a pH as high as 10.5 and is so caustic it can burn the skin and eyes of animals that aren’t adapted to it. The water’s alkalinity comes from the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake from the surrounding hills.
Is Lake Natron worth visiting?
There is good game viewing and birding in this harsh landscape with dry country species such as gerenuk, lesser kudu and oryx a speciality. Natron is also the only known breeding ground for East Africa’s millions of lesser flamingos which cover the lake between August and October.
Why is flamingo water so toxic?
Visit Lake Natron in Tanzania and you’ll find 75% of the world’s 3.2 million lesser flamingos. The lake’s hypersaline water can strip away human skin, and breeds algae toxic to many forms of animal life, but the bird flourishes in these conditions thanks to its incredibly adapted body.
What did you think of the animals washed up on Lake Natron?
“Discovering [these animals] washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron, I thought they were extraordinary — every last tiny detail perfectly preserved down to the tip of a bat’s tongue, the minute hairs on his face.
What happened to the bats and birds on Lake Natron?
Approaching the shoreline of Lake Natron in Tanzania, photographer Nick Brandt faced an eerie sight: There, lying on the earth as still and stiff as statues, were calcified corpses of a variety of birds and bats that had met their untimely demise after crashing into the deadly waters.
Why did Brandt take pictures of dead animals?
Calcified bat. “The notion of portraits of dead animals in the place where they once lived, placed in positions as if alive again in death, was just too compelling to ignore,” Brandt said of his decision to photograph the animals.
Why is Lake Natron so inhospitable?
Other than serving as a breeding area for the endangered Lesser Flamingo and as a home to certain kinds of algae and bacteria, Lake Natron is inhospitable to life. Blood-red from the bacteria that live in it, the salt lake is steaming hot, with temperatures that can reach up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the New Scientist.