The proposed construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Ewaso Ng’iro River and a soda ash plant on its shores threatens the lake’s salinity and the flamingos. If they spent any longer in the lake, they would have died.Ĭurrently, Lake Natron is under threat. It burned their eyes and skin, but they managed to drag themselves ashore. Everyone survived the crash but they were in the water unprotected. In 2007, a helicopter carrying a group of wildlife videographers wishing to get footage of the flamingos crashed into the lake. People have occasionally survived the lake’s potency. Lake Natron would have saved pharaonic embalmers a lot of work. The ancient Egyptians used sodium carbonate and bicarbonate in the mummification process. Photo: Shutterstockįor most humans, the lake’s qualities are more suitable for the dead than the living. The lake doesn’t quite have that instant effect. The graphically eerie positions looked like the finger of Medusa had really touched them. Wildlife photographer Nick Brandt made headlines in 2013 by staging photos of the mummified remains of the poor creatures around Lake Natron. They drown in the toxic potion, and their outsides and insides calcify. The mirror-like surface tricks them into diving into the red waters for food. Some alkaline tilapia (a member of the cichlid family) can sustain themselves in the cooler parts of the lake.īut to some wildlife, especially birds, Lake Natron can be a death trap. Somehow, a few species of fish, invertebrates, and algae manage to live in the lake. In Lake Natron, their pigment paints the water a striking red. Generally, cyanobacteria carry different pigments. The lake’s salinity has welcomed salt-consuming, halophilic microorganisms called cyanobacteria, which need photosynthesis to survive. Lake Natron’s deceptively glassy surface. ![]() Its average alkalinity is 10.5, its pH surpasses 12, and its water temperature ranges from 40˚ to 60˚C. This concentrated the trona (sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate) and natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) in the leftover water, creating a highly toxic brine. Since the lake had no outflow and received irregular rainfall, it endured thousands of years of intense evaporation from the heat. During the Pleistocene period, a rare type of lava rich in sodium and potassium carbonates ran down the slopes of the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano and into the lake. It’s fed by the Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River in Kenya. This shallow but wide lake is just three metres deep but 22km wide. Tanzania has no less than four alkaline lakes, but Lake Natron is the most famous. Lake Natron is a hypersaline and highly alkaline lake located in the eastern section of the volatile East African Rift. In North Tanzania, a unique inland lake turns wildlife to stone. That’s a legend, but a natural wonder in Africa today does just that. It then comes as a surprise that the lake remains one of the biggest nesting grounds for the lesser flamingos who flock to the area by the million each year.We all know about the Greek monster Medusa, whose deadly gaze turned men to stone. Fed by nearby volcanic springs, the sweltering 40 degree celcius waters and high salt content make the lake inhospitable for most, and, during the dry season, petrify the creatures that die within it. This natural wonder is caused by microorganisms that flourish in the mineral rich waters of the lake. ![]() But lying in the country’s northern reaches you will find the eerily crimson waters of Lake Natron, an equally thrilling natural phenomenon to explore.Īt first sight, the lake looks fairly conventional with blue waters lapping the shoreline, but a journey from above soon reveals a unique red crust covering the lake’s surface – an unusual sight to the human eye. The mighty peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Great Migration of stampeding wildebeest through the Serengeti and the Big 5 within one of the seven Natural Wonders of Africa- the Ngorongoro Crater, are what the East African country of Tanzania are best known for. China & Hong Kong Destination Management Company.Latin America Destination Management Company.Germany, Switzerland & Austria Destination Management Company.North America Destination Management Company.Rubondo Island National Park in Tanzania.Mahale Mountains National Park in Tanzania.Makgadikgadi Pans National Park in Botswana.Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana.Timbavati Private Game Reserve in South Africa.Thornybush Private Game Reserve in South Africa.Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa.
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