![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The hazardous nature of Lake Natron is precisely what makes it an undisturbed breeding ground for flamingos. Nick Brandt noted, “The water would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds.” The ashy remnants washed down by rainwater eventually find their way into the lake, elucidating why the lifeless animals washed ashore appear as if they’ve been submerged in a bucket of cement. Most volcanoes typically release silicate materials, but Ol Doinyo Lengai is the sole entity on our planet that emits “natrocarbonatites” – a unique, cool, and flowing dark substance. According to Hannes Mattsson, a Swiss Institute of Technology researcher in Zurich, this volcano stands apart from others. The culprit behind this unusual phenomenon is Ol Doinyo Lengai, an ancient volcano situated just south of Lake Natron, known to be a fascination for petrologists. Instead, it consists of magmatic limestone, formed deep within the Earth, spewed forth in liquid lava flows, and propelled high into the sky as ash clouds reaching staggering heights of 10 miles.Ī calcified dove, from Nick Brandt’s book Across The Ravaged Land, published by Abrams, New York.Nick Brandt / Courtesy of Hasted Kraeutler Gallery | Lake Natron Mummies When the water recedes, it leaves behind the lifeless bodies on the shoreline, their forms coated in a veneer of salt, mirroring the way Brandt first encountered them.īut what led to this lake’s inhospitable conditions? The “salt” within it differs from the typical table salt sourced from seawater. This arid region experiences significant water level fluctuations due to its scorching temperatures. Likewise, insects like beetles and locusts meet a similar fate. When small birds or bats attempt to cross the vast 12- by 30-mile expanse of the lake but fail, they often plummet into its unforgiving depths. Nick Brandt / Courtesy of Hasted Kraeutler Gallery | Lake Natron Mummies The lake has thousands more impeccably preserved carcasses, as its extreme alkalinity prevents decomposition, effectively pickling the creatures.ĭavid Harper, an ecologist from the University of Leicester who has made four visits to Lake Natron, explained, “If an animal perishes elsewhere, it decomposes rapidly, but along the lake’s edge, it becomes encrusted in salt and remains intact for eternity.”įlamingos are some of the lucky birds that can travel across the lake, which is 30 miles wide at its longest point. ![]() While his images have been circulating online, he has only begun to scratch the surface of the lake’s offerings. “I photographed them as I discovered them on the shore, arranging them in lifelike positions to breathe a semblance of life back into them.”īrandt’s striking photographs are currently on exhibit at the Hasted Kraeutler Gallery in New York City and are set to be featured in a photo anthology by Abrams Books. “I stumbled upon these creatures-birds and bats of all kinds-scattered along the northern Tanzanian shoreline of Lake Natron,” Brandt emailed NBC News. This eerie phenomenon inspired him to create a series of photographs to document the extraordinary occurrence. Nick Brandt was captivated by the remarkably well-preserved remains of bats, flamingos, eagles, and swallows. Recently, it has gained notoriety for its tendency to wash up small animals on its shores, each delicately encased in a crusty shroud. Natron’s temperature usually rests at a warm 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and it takes on a blood-red hue due to the presence of bacteria-the only life forms that can endure its perilous alkaline environment. ![]()
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