Amazingly, 2.5 million flamingos make Lake Natron their home and is one of their ideal breeding grounds. In fact, Lake Natron’s alkaline waters support a thriving ecosystem of salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, flamingos and other wetland birds as well as tilapia and the algae on which large flocks of flamingos feed.

Deposits of sodium carbonate also acts as a fantastic type of preservative for animals that die in the lake.ĭespite reports, animals do not turn to stone and die after coming into contact with the lake’s water. Its temperature reaches to 120’F and the pH level is 10.5, which can burn the skin and eyes of animals that are not adapted to it. As the water evaporates, it leaves a mixture of minerals and salt, known as natron. The high alkalinity in Lake Natron is due to the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake from the surrounding hills. The lake is fed principally by the Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River in central Kenya and by mineral-rich hot springs. This algae growth in turn has fostered the development of Lesser Flamingo nests around the lake. While the alkalinity of the water can mummify the unlucky animals falling in the lake, cyanobacteria have made it their home and given the lake its signature red and orange shades. It sits below Ol Doinyo Lengai, a soaring active volcano in the Rift Valley. This salty water body makes life almost impossible. Lake Natron is a remarkable mineral-rich soda lake, in northern region of Tanzania at the border with Kenya.

Natron lake animals