![]() ![]() While the animal dies pretty quickly, its body remains and has the appearance of being turned to stone with everything pretty well reserved. Lake Natron in the Arusha Region of northern Tanzania is one of the largest pink flamingo breeding ground in the world. The only regular East African breeding ground for the Lesser Flamingo, the lake is one of the most important non-protected sites in all of Tanzania. ![]() The high salt and alkaline levels in the lake lead to calcification, which is the accumulation of calcium salts in the body. However, for most animals, it’s a very dangerous place.Ĭreatures who come into contact with the lake's red-coloured water seem to be instantly frozen in place, and it’s all to do with the contents of the water. There is one animal that has flourished in the lake, the endangered lesser flamingo. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Special bacteria and blue algae thrive in this environment and form an ideal. The adaptation of a fish called tilapia alkaline who alone can survive in the alkaline waters of the lake, typically along its shores. Lake Natron is in the north of Tanzania on the border with Kenya and it’s an incredibly hostile place for most creatures. Lake Natron is a mineral-rich soda lake and flamingo breeding ground that lies at the foot of Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano. Members of the scientific communities are focusing on an African lake that turns animals to stone, and it's one of the most fascinating places we never knew existed. In Botswana, the breeding area at the Makgadikgadi salt pans was listed as a Flamingo sanctuary in 2009, and a management plan for this site has been developed (Kootsositse 2012). They arrive with two main items on their agenda: to consume blue-green algae and to breed. Nature can be a very, very scary place at times.Įvery now again, the natural world likes to remind us just how terrifying it is and the latest talking point is no exception. Millions of lesser flamingosknown for their light pink plumage and long necksgather in saline and semisaline lakes such as Bogoria and Naivasha in Kenya and Natron in Tanzania. As isolated as the lake is (it wasn't even discovered by Europeans until 1954), there are no protections in place for the lake or its threatened flamingo population.įollow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. ![]() You may choose to schedule your tour of East Africa during the rainy or dry season. The serenity of Lake Natron - and its flamingo population - are threatened by a proposed hydroelectric power plant on the Ewaso Ngiro River, the main river feeding the lake. The weather at Lake Natron is primarily hot and mostly dry, and the coolest months are June through August, but some guests find these temperatures tropically warm as well since Tanzania is located just south of the equator. As shallow lakes in a hot climate, their water temperatures can reach as high as 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius). It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. Both are terminal lakes that do not drain out to any river or sea they are fed by hot springs and small rivers. More than a million lesser flamingos breed in Tanzania’s Lake Natron, for instance, a lake fed by hot springs with water so alkaline that it can strip away human skin (one pioneering. Lake Natron is a salt or alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania. Lake Natron makes a great home for Lesser flamingos breeding because of two main reasons. Three-quarters of the world population of lesser flamingos depend on Tanzanias Lake Natron as a breeding site, threatened by a large scale soda ash. Lake Natron is one of two alkaline lakes in that area of East Africa the other is Lake Bahi. Yes, Tanzania is a home to millions of wild pink flamingos. Two of the lesser flamingo’s preferred habitats, Lake Bogoria in Kenya and Lake Natron in Tanzania, are hypersaline and hostile to practically all other forms of life Natron water can. The flamingos' nests are built on small islands that form in the lake during the dry season. During breeding season, more than 2 million lesser flamingos ( Phoenicopterus minor) use the shallow lake as their primary breeding ground in Africa. ![]()
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