Cruel Conditions of Lake Natron That turn Animals Into Statues

Lake Natron, located on the border of Kenya in northern Tanzania, does a pretty good job of making itself stand out as one of the most mysteriously cruel and beautiful natural phenomena in the world.

This salt water lake is fed through its main tributary, the Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River, as

well as mineral-rich hot springs that bubble up

on the periphery. It has recently attracted

attention for the macabre remnants of animals

it has been leaving behind. Nick Brandt, a

photographer who shoots exclusively in Africa–

he directed the video for Michael

credit shah rogers

Jackson’s Earth Song there in 1995–captured

photographs of preserved bat and bird

carcasses on the shoreline. Animals that

become immersed in the water die and then

become calcified, petrified.

“I could not help but photograph them,” he

says. “No one knows for certain exactly how

they die, but it appears that the extreme

reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses

them, and like birds crashing into plate glass

windows, they crash into the lake.”

The scenes he captured are profoundly

remarkable, but so are the harsh conditions of

this place.

Temperatures in the lake can reach up to 60

degrees Celsius (or 140 degrees Farenheit),

and its alkalinity is between pH 9 and pH 10.5.

As freshwater evaporates on the 402 square

mile lake, it leaves behind high salt

concentrations. In fact, the water of Lake

Natron is so rich in dissolved sodium

carbonate that if you placed your hand beneath

the surface it would feel almost gelatinous to

touch.

The sodium carbonate at this location has

come from volcanic ash, accumulated from the

Great Rift valley.

Unless you happen to be an alkaline

tilapia ( Alcolapia alcalica ), an extremophile fish

adapted to the harsh conditions, or a Lesser

Flamingo ( Hoenicopterus minor), it is not the

most comfortable place to live. Surrounded by

escarpments and volcanic mountains, one of

which is active, this far from idyllic place is the

only regular breeding ground for this species of

flamingo in East Africa. Approximately 2.5

million individuals breed here each year.

“Large breeding events involving over a million

[lesser] flamingos are not unusual if conditions

at Lake Natron are suitable and if the

flamingos are in good health,” explained Ms

Ward, a PhD research student studying the

relationship between East African lakes and

lesser flamingo populations at the university’s

Institute of Complex Systems Simulation

(ICSS) and geography departments.

The corrosive environment of the lake and

isolation allows the birds to breed without

interference from predators.

Brandt’s new collection of photos featuring

animals in east Africa, Across the Ravaged

Land, is published by Abrams Books. One of

this brilliant photographer’s goals is to record

a last testament to the wild animals and

places found in Africa before they are destroyed

by the hands of man.