Originally published on October 3, 2013
Lake Natron in northern Tanzania is a tomb to many birds whose carcasses have been pickled and calcified into eerie statues in its harsh waters.
The deadly lake is highly alkaline, its pH ranging from 9 to 10.5, taking it up to a thousand times more basic than seawater. This environment can effectively serve as brine, while the other salts in solution cake and adhere to the dead body to complete the petrification.
Located just north of Natron, Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano is the source of the concentrated salts found in the lake. A unique volcano and a favorite to petrologists, it does not spew the common, red-hot silicate magma. Natrocarbonatite erupt cool and dark, and is rich in sodium and potassium carbonate, along with other minerals. Then rainwater sweeps the runoff into the lake, hence its name.
Calcified bats, flamingos, doves, eagles have been turning up on Lake Natro's shores. No one knows for certain how the birds arrived at their fate-- some suspect that they were swept into the lake only after death. Others also speculate that they have plunged into the deep while traversing the lake.
Despite its creepy death aura, Lake Natron's quiet shores are also prime breeding ground the endangered lesser flamingo. They populate the salt islands that form when lake water evaporates. Their long legs might cut them some leeway from the lake's waters, but flamingos have turned up among the other mummies.
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