It is said that this lake transforms animals into stone in the same way as Medusa, the Greek monster, turned humans into stone. The East African Rift Valley has Lake Natron, which is thought to be the valley’s lowest point.
This lake is also extremely hypersaline and alkaline. Tanzania is home to a number of alkaline lakes, but Lake Natron is the most well-known and well-respected.
This lake is really shallow (about 3 meters deep) and about 22km wide. It gets its water source from the Ewaso Ng’iro River in Kenya. There is a period in time that sees Lava filled with Potassium carbonates run into the lake from the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano.
Although there is no water coming out of the lake, it consistently receives rains and has withstood years of high rates of evaporation due to the extreme heat.
The pigments of the cyanobacteria, which comprise halophilic and salt-consuming microorganisms, are what give the lake its red hue.
Some fish and bird species have attempted to settle in Lake Natron, but this could be a death trap for them.
Nonetheless, some people have succeeded in leading contented lives and surviving here. They make an effort to reside in the lake’s colder region.
There is one bird species however that have beaten all odds to make this their home with no problems at all.
There are about 2 million lesser Flamingos that live here and these birds are considered endangered species.
The survival of the flamingos here has been facilitated by the presence of Algae and Cyanobacteria which the birds feed on and there are no predators to disturb the pace of the flamingos.
Naturally, the bird will make an effort to stay on the lake’s colder side. However, their skin is also designed to shield them from burns.
This lake is more suited for death than for life; it cannot sustain human life. The lake was used by the ancient people to mummify bodies in order to preserve them for a very long time. The Egyptians handled this in the majority.
Numerous individuals have managed to evade this lake’s fury. Photographers hoping to capture images of the flamingos plunging into the lake were transported in a helicopter.
They were saved alive, although their skin and eyes were burned. It is a good thing the lake isn’t that deep. Since it’s not very wide, the locals also assisted them. However, they would have perished in the lake if they had stayed there for a long time.
A proposed plan to construct a dam puts Lake Natron in grave danger. This is on the Ewaso Ng’iro River, the lake’s sole source. This lake’s soda ash factory poses a major risk to the salinity and flamingo population.
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