Nonetheless, flamingos are still at high risk staying amidst Lake Natron’s fatal waters. Nick Brandt, CALCIFIED DOVE, LAKE NATRON, 2010 Photographer Nick Brandt is a man with a history in East Africa, having spent decades directing videos and taking photographs across the region. They only come around seasonally, when salt sediments accumulate all over the lake creating islands on which the birds can safely nest. These pink flamingos live on the abundant supply of cyanobacteria, and the lake’s isolated location and toxicity to predators make it the perfect place for them to build their nests. The rusty red cyanobacteria gives Lake Natron its color. However, this deadly lake is the only place in Eastern Africa where three quarters of the world’s Lesser Flamingo population breeds. The unusually hot temperatures and high salinity make Lake Natron in Tanzania inhospitable for most creatures in fact, Sierra recently featured surreal photos of the calcified animals that wash up on shore there but certain types of algae thrive in these extra-salty conditions. The only creatures that survive in its depths are the alkaline tilapia (Alcolapia latilabris) and cyanobacteria (Spirulina), which gives its pinkish red pigmentation. The volcanic sediments in the lake originate from the nearby Great Rift Valley, and water temperature reaches up to 60 degrees Celsius. With an alkalinity between pH 9 and pH 10, the waters of Lake Natron is highly corrosive. The calcified stone corpses of its victims washed out by the lakefront are a horrific thing to behold. Its lethal waters are only 3 meters deep, but it’s capable of eating out the life of any warm-blooded thing that immerses itself in its depths. No right-minded animal would dare step into Lake Natron of Tanzania. The flamingos and bats didn’t really become petrified in place, as if calcified by ominous clouds of salt-filled smog.
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