Then there are the razor-sharp chunks of salt that nearly stranded camera operator Matt Aeberhard in the caustic seas after his hovercraft was shredded while filming A Perfect Planet for the BBC. For starters, there’s the heat, with Lake Natron’s water occasionally reaching a scorching 60☌ (140☏).
#Natron lake stone animals skin#
IF YOU JUMPED INTO LAKE NATRON, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN? Flamingos have rough, scaly skin that protects them from the water, while humans are too soft and squishy. Most animals’ skin and eyes will be burned, and those that stay too long will perish, but would a person be turned to “stone” like Brandt’s animals if they jumped in? The salty lake has absorbed sodium carbonate and other minerals in natrocarbonatite from the surrounding hills throughout time, resulting in a strong alkaline water. The surreal environment follows in the footsteps of Ol Doinyo Lengai, the only volcano on the planet to spew out one of Earth’s strangest lavas: Natrocarbonatite. Part of the reason it’s so popular with the resilient flamingos is that predators can’t live in its waters for long, making it a no-hunt zone. Lake Natron is home to a variety of fauna, the most notable of which is the lesser flamingos who casually wade in its waters, which have a pH of nearly 12 – close to the strength of household bleach. WHY IS LAKE NATRON SUCH A DANGEROUS PLACE? It isn’t, in fact. In contrast, the circumstances in Lake Natron may likely preserve your remains if your lifeless corpse were to plunge into it, but it’s not a place you’d want to paddle. People have disintegrated in Yellowstone National Park’s hot springs, and stories from the park serve as terrible reminders of what may happen when you fall into the wrong water bodies. Would a human falling into a Tanzanian soda lake behave similarly? No, not right away, but it wouldn’t be a terribly pleasant dip.
After wildlife photographer, Nick Brandt shot images of crusty corpses found in the region in 2013, haunting photos of animals “turned to stone” by the caustic waters of Lake Natron went viral.
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