Tanzania’s Lake Natron Turns Animals Into Statues


If you travel to Lake Natron in northern Tanzania we suggest avoiding a swim. That’s because the lake is capable of turning animals and humans into stone.

The lake has an alkalinity level between pH 9 and pH 10.5 and can reach temperatures of 60 °C. The only species to survive int he lake are alkaline tilapia (Alcolapia alcalica) – an extremophile fish that has adapted to the lakes treacherous conditions.

The lakes name was selected because of natron, a naturally occurring compound made mainly of sodium carbonate and a small amount of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

The lakes conditions were formed with the help of volcanic ash which accumulated from the Great Rift valley.

As animals swoop or jump into the water they become calcified and die.

Photographer Nick Brandt recently visited the area and took photographs of animals who have died after coming in contact with water at Lake Natron. Speaking to NewScientist the photographer explains:

“I could not help but photograph them. No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake.”

Flamingo’s photographed by Nick Brandt were placed in specific poses to showcase their unfortunate end of life.

While several photographs are making the rounds, the lake is actually full of animal carcasses. Essentially when birds and other creatures fall or swoop into Lake Natron they become pickled and therefore they do not decompose.

Here are several more photographs from Brandt’s work at Lake Natron:

What do you think of Lake Natron and its involuntary animal museum.

Share this article: Tanzania’s Lake Natron Turns Animals Into Statues
More from Inquisitr