Lake Natron

 

Lake Natron

Lake Natron-Tanzania

Natron Lake, the world's most caustic or alkaline lake. Lake Natron got its name because of its water which is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, sodium decahydrate (a kind of soda ash) along with a small quantities of sodium chloride sulphate.

Where is Lake Natron

Lake Natron is in Arusha region in north Tanzania, Africa, on the Kenyan border. Lake Natron is lying in the Gregory Rift which is within Kenya and northern Tanzania at 36° E Longitude and 2°30’S Latitude.

Description of Lake Natron

Lake Natron is a closed alkaline saline lake. The main river feeding the lake is Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River, which originates in Central Kenya. Many minerals rich hot springs also fed this lake.

Lake Natron is 56 km long, 24 km wide and 9.8 feet deep, streaching between the Kenya-Tanzania border and Ol doinyo Lengai volcano. At the southern edge of the lake has Gelai volcano (9652).

Lake Natron sends a warning with its bright red colour. Many salt loving microorganisms thrive in its alkaline water. The saline water makes the lake inhospitable for many plants and animals. Spirulina is blue - green algae with red pigments have coloured the lake’s salt crust red or pink. The lake also gets its bright red colour from cyanobacteria which have red pigments. This salt crust changes over time and gives the lake a slightly different appearance each time.

Lake Natron is in Tanzania’s low elevation semi-arid region, where rainfall is erratic, below 800mm per year with annual variation. Most of the rainfall occurs between December and May, followed by a long dry season.

At the lake, the daily temperature is above 40°C so the Lake Natron has high evaporation rates. Depending on its precipitation, the lake’s alkalinity can reach directly to the ammonia. When the lake is flooded with water that has heated underground, the temperature of water can be reach 60 degree Celcius.

The water of Lake Natron is extremely alkaline pH  level is 10.5. In the Rift Valley, the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai spews alkali-rich natrocarbonatite lava which flows through runoff from rainwater and nearly hot springs and releases into Lake Natron.  This natrocarbonatite is a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate which once used in mummification in Egypt. The lava makes its way into Lake Natron and rising its pH level upto 12. Surrounded bedrocks are composed of alkaline. When the water of the Lake Natron evaporates, the natron and trona are left behind which make the water more alkaline.

Saline and alkaline water, lack of rain, extreme temperature, strong wind, scarcity of vegetation and thick mud surrounding the lake make this place inhospitable.

Flora and Fauna

The level of salinity of the water of Lake Natron increases due to lot and quick evaporation. This extreme saline water create the ideal conditions for cyanobacteria development, such as Spirulina spp, which is a single-celled microbes, often referred to as blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria derive their nutrition from a process comparable to photosynthesis of green plants.

In July and August, over 2 million lesser flamingos come to Lake Natron shores for reproduction. About 75% of pink lesser flamingos live and breed in mud flats that surrounded  Lake Natron. The lesser flamingos feed on cyanobacteria, blue-green algae and the greater flamingos feed on copepod larva that live on shallow water of Lake Natron. They filter water through their beak to get their food.

Lake Natron is an ideal nursery of millions of flamingos. Predators avoid this saline lake and hospitable environment so the flamingos live in peacefully. But this lake can be deadly even to them so the flamingos must exercise caution.

Lake Natron is the home of Natron Tilapia or Tilapia Alcalica. This fish live along the edges of the lake water where the water is less salty. This tropical fish has ability to survive in this saline water.

Varity of plants can be seen surrounding salt-marshes and fresh water wetlands. A halophytic plants species are also grown here.

Threats

Ewaso Ngiro River is the main source of the water of Lake Natron. A hydroelectric power plant scheme proposed by the Kenyan Government is a major threat of lesser flamingos as the lake’s wetland is the secure breeding site of world’s 75% of lesser flamingo birds.

In 2006, Tata Chemicals Limited and Government of Tanzania planned to develop a soda ash plant on the shore of Lake Natron, which would pump the water from the lake and extract the sodium carbonate from the water. Sodium carbonate is a main material which is used to make glass, detergent, soap etc.  Then sodium carbonate is converted to washing power for export. Not only this, there would be a coal-fired power station to provide energy to the plant, road and rail links also. A senior official at the National Development Corporation (NDC) said that, the building the soda ash factory on the shore of Lake Natron would dry up the lake in about 10 years. Even though Tata Chemical Limited pulled out.

the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania , BirdLife International, the Lake Natron Consultative Group and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are campaigning worldwide to raise awareness to stop the planned construction of soda ash factories. 

Lesser flamingos cover the lake between August and October but there are no protections for Lake Natron or its threatened flamingo population.

Visiting Time

The weather of Lake Natron is hot, dry and windy. The coolest months are June, July and August as Tanzania is located just south of the equator. Rainy season and dry season are the good times to visit Lake Natron. June to August is the dry season which is the excellent time for walking around the lake, hiking and for trekking up Ol Doinyo Lengai. Lake Natron has enormous potential for tourists, which is important for developing ecotourism. But the lack of a general management plan, inadequate funding and Poorly developed tourism infrastructure facilities were the main challenges associated with ecotourism.

Lake Natron Myth

Water of Lake Natron contains sodium bicarbonate and mineral salts which make the lake water extremely hot, alkaline and salty. At the edge of the lake, there are algae, Natron Tilapia and lesser flamingos can survive this extreme environment. But any animals fall into the lake, their skin and eyes quickly burn and after death their carcasses are preserved through calcification, just like mummies. The unlucky animals are calcified and hardening to stone-like structure because sodium carbonate of the lake water hardens the bodies and making them just like stones.

Photographer Nick Brandit visited Lake Natron and captured a series of photos of the petrified animals that once die in this lake and preserved through calcification. He said that he saw the animals along the shoreline of Lake Natron and did not know how the animals died. He grabbed the dead animals and put them in life-like position as if they were alive and took photographs them. The photograph have become iconic and considered as world’s most phantasmagorical photographs.

Why is Lake Natron so deadly?

Lake Natron is one of the most costic or alkaline lakes in the world. The pH level of the water is 10.5 and the temperature of the water is above 40°C, it quickly burn the skin and eyes.

Why is Lake Natron hot and alkaline?

Active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai spews alkali-rich natrocarbonatite which flows and mix with the water of Lake Natron. This natrocarbonatite is a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate and other mineral salts which increase the Ph level of the water upto 12. When water evaporates, the natron and trona are left behind which makes the water more alkaline

Lake Natron is fed mineral-rich hot springs which make the water hot (40°C)