The lake is a maximum of 57km long and 22km wide during the wet season and the water temperature is very high during the dry seasons. It sits within the Gregory Rift just south of the Lake Manyara National Park. Sodium carbonate was once used in Egyptian mummification processes for this very reason.įurther detail about the photos can be found in Brandt’s book “Across the Ravaged Land” published in 2013. Lake Natron is a salt and alkaline ‘soda lake’ in the Arusha region of northern Tanzania. Instead, the lake’s high sodium carbonate content acts as a preservative for the animals unfortunate enough to die in its waters. Lake Natron in fact contains a thriving ecosystem of freshwater wetlands and salt marshes, home to the animals pictured in Brandt’s photography. The lake’s alkalinity comes from the minerals flowing into the lake from the hills surrounding it, particularly sodium carbonate.īut contrary to the clickbait headlines, Lake Natron doesn’t instantly kill the creatures that regularly come into contact with it. Lake Natron is indeed hostile to wildlife that hasn’t adapted to its highly alkaline water, which at a pH of 10.5 would burn the skin and eyes of any human foolhardy enough to take a swim. Lake Natron is home to a thriving ecosystem, and its waters’ alkalinity preserves the remains of animals that die in or near it.įor around a decade now, striking images of calcified animal remains on Lake Natron in Tanzania taken by the photographer Nick Brandt have circulated through social media, often featuring alongside eye-grabbing headlines describing it as a lake that turns living animals to stone.
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