![]() This is a harsh, wild and fascinating region. Young children herd goats, elders in bright red togas sit under acacias and the morani (warriors) watch guard, spears in their hands, intricate beading around their necks and ocher in their hair. The wildlife lives side by side with the Maasai and scattered throughout the surrounding plains are numerous Maasai manyattas (villages), crooked sticks and cracked clay houses arranged around cattle kraals under the hot sun. The ghastly Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, is a salt lake meaning that water flows in, but doesn’t flow out, so it can only escape by evaporation. Natron is also the only known breeding ground for East Africa's millions of lesser flamingos which cover the lake between August and October. There is good game viewing and birding in this harsh landscape with dry country species such as gerenuk, lesser kudu and oryx a speciality. Lying in a beautifully scenic area below the Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Natron has such a high concentration of sodium, that the water is often viscous to the touch. Further north still is the spectacular soda lake of Natron. There are rugged mountains where vultures soar and baboon bark, dusty gorges where the Maasai bring their cattle to drink and endless grassy plains. L ake Natron is located in northern Tanzania on the border with Kenya, near the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.The sacred mountain of the Masai, Ol Doinyo Lengai, dominates the horizon at the lake area. RELATED ARTICLES.North of the Ngorongoro Crater, and far from the beaten track, you will find the Maasai's Mountain of God - Ol Doinyo L'Engai.Īn active carbonate volcano, it is a focal point for the Maasai, whose land stretches out for hundreds of miles from it. Also whilst here, take the chance to walk up to the Engero Sero Waterfalls.ĭry season, July/October, is the best time. ![]() ![]() Viewing of Ol Doinyo Lengai – standing tall in amongst rolling hills and flat plains with ash-grey colour and smoking top tell again that this is still very much active where by the more exploratory tourists might like to try and climb Ol Doinyo Lengai. The lake is nowhere more than three metres deep and has such a high salt content that the skin would. WHAT TO DOĪctivities in the Lake Natron are mainly on walks around the shores of the great soda lake itself, in which algae and zooplankton thrive. Lake Natron is a lake in Tanzania, bordering Kenya. Other attraction in the area are: the Mountain of God Ol Doinyo Lengai, the combination of broad open plains, sheer rift escarpments, enormous freestanding volcanoes and the vast multi-coloured soda lake itself is a home to a fascinating eco-system which thrives in this harsh environment is absolutely breathtaking. Lake Natron is a shallow, evaporative basin, lying on and south of the Kenya-Tanzania border in the East African Rift Valley (Fig. The areas around Lake Natron contain some of the most amazing scenery in Africa also a home to some wildlife, you might see the occasional giraffe or zebra warthogs and many more. Extraordinary exceptions to this are the various types of microscopic diatom algae which thrive in this harsh environment, which in turn provide sustenance for several hundred thousand lesser flamingos, for whom this is the most important breeding site worldwide. Located in the northeast of Tanzania, the wild and remote Lake Natron is one of the most alkaline in the world and is home to millions of tiny crustaceans. With Africa’s highest active volcanic mountain Ol Doinyo Lengai the “Mountain of God in the Maasai language” to the South, Lake Natron, serves as is a sanctuary and the only regular breeding spot in East Africa for the 2.5 million Lesser Flamingoes. Lake Natron is off the main tourist trail and I highly recommend a visit. Not draining out to any river or sea other than evaporation, the lake alkalinity comes from the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake from the surrounding volcanic rock hills and lava flows. A small portion of the lake its northern tip lies over the border in southern Kenya. ![]() The elongated lake is 56 km long from north to south, and 24 km wide. With the PH as high as 10.5, Lake Natron is one of two alkaline lakes in the area of East Africa the other is Lake Bahi and is probably the world's most caustic body of water and perhaps the most dramatic of all the rift valley lakes. Lake Natron is in northern Tanzania, just over a 100 km northwest of the city of Arusha. This stunning area sits just north east of the Ngorongoro Crater and forms part of Africa's immense Great Rift Valley rests at the altitude of 600m above sea level. ![]()
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