![]() ![]() “Lesser flamingoes have leathery skin on their legs, as feathers would be useless soaked with water,” explained Harper. For these organisms, the lake is a perfect barrier against predators.Įvolution has been kind to these animals, which have adapted well enough to withstand the harsh waters. A few species of alkaline tilapia are endemic to the waters, too. “But those that do live in enormous densities because there is no competition.” Nearly 2.5 million lesser flamingoes use Lake Natron as an exclusive breeding ground. “There are very few species that can live there,” said David Harper, a freshwater science researcher at the University of Leicester. Ancient Egyptians used natron extensively for their mummification rituals. Natron, for which the lake is named after, flows from the surrounding hillsides, and collects in high proportions as rapid evaporation rates reduce the waters into a rich slurry. The animals are calcified because a mixture of salt and minerals called natron, which completely dries out dead matter while simultaneously preserving it from bacterial decay. The phenomenon has received a lot of attention lately thanks to photographer Nick Brandt, whose latest book, Across the Ravaged Land, shows the result of this eerie ecological spectacle. But rather than decay, the lifeless carcasses are transformed by Lake Natron’s unusual properties into calcified, statuesque figures - pale and hardened like desert rock. When wildlife in the region die, there’s a good chance the bodies will fall into the vast lake and drift ashore. And although salt-loving microorganisms bloom in the lake, tinting sections a dense, violent shade of red, the waters are so hostile the lake is void of many of the types of plants and animals teeming around it. The shallow lake retains an average pH as alkaline as ammonia, and temperatures can sometimes rise as high as 140 degrees. ![]() Northern Tanzania’s Lake Natron has more in common with post-apocalyptic fiction than it does with the rest of the region’s peaceful mountains. 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.Artist’s masterpiece is a load of garbage Laura Geggel 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. “Reanimated, alive again in death.”ĭuring breeding season, more than 2 million lesser flamingos ( Phoenicopterus minor) use the shallow lake as their primary breeding ground in Africa. “I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life,’ as it were,” Brandt wrote, referring to the way he repositioned the animals. “No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but … the water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds.” “I unexpectedly found the creatures - all manner of birds and bats - washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron,” Brandt wrote in his book. īrandt discovered the remains of flamingos and other animals with chalky sodium carbonate deposits outlining their bodies in sharp relief. Now, photographer Nick Brandt has captured haunting images of the lake and its dead in a book titled “Across the Ravaged Land” (Abrams Books, 2013). In fact, Lake Natron’s alkaline waters support a thriving ecosystem of salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, flamingos and other wetland birds, tilapia and the algae on which large flocks of flamingos feed. And deposits of sodium carbonate - which was once used in Egyptian mummification - also acts as a fantastic type of preservative for those animals unlucky enough to die in the waters of Lake Natron.ĭespite some media reports, the animal didn’t simply turn to stone and die after coming into contact with the lake’s water. The water’s alkalinity comes from the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake from the surrounding hills. 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. ![]() Lake Natron in Tanzania is one of the most serene lakes in Africa, but it’s also the source of some of the most phantasmagorical photographs ever captured - images that look as though living animals had instantly turned to stone. ![]()
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