Lake natron turns animals to stone skin#

No one is quite sure exactly how they die, but it seems that the lake reflects light a lot and this confuses them. In the post titled All Over the Wasteland, the photographer wrote: “I unexpectedly encountered the creatures – all manner of birds and bats – along the shores of Lake Natron in northern Tanzania. The photographer and expert on the African continent, Nick Brandt, produced some images of the statues of animals that died in the lake, his work went viral on the internet and generated curiosity to understand what this lake has. But appearances can be deceiving: its waters hold a fatal secret.ĭue to the rare chemical composition, the lake ends up petrifying the animals that enter it. 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.Lake Natron, situated in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in the Great Rift Valley, is one of the most peaceful places in Africa. 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. “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 did Brandt take pictures of dead animals?Ĭalcified bat. What happened to the bats and birds on Lake Natron?Īpproaching 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. “Discovering 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 did you think of the animals washed up on Lake Natron? 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. Visit Lake Natron in Tanzania and you’ll find 75% of the world’s 3.2 million lesser flamingos. Natron is also the only known breeding ground for East Africa’s millions of lesser flamingos which cover the lake between August and October. There is good game viewing and birding in this harsh landscape with dry country species such as gerenuk, lesser kudu and oryx a speciality. The water’s alkalinity comes from the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake from the surrounding hills.

Lake natron turns animals to stone skin#

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.