Other volcanoes usually spew silicates, but the Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only one on the planet that spills "natrocarbonatites" as cool, runny, dark washes. It's a favorite among petrologists because it's the only one of its kind, Hannes Mattsson, a researcher at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, told NBC News. The culprit is Ol Doinyo Lengai, a million-year old volcano just south of Lake Natron. Nick Brandt / Courtesy of Hasted Kraeutler Gallery A calcified dove, from Nick Brandt's book Across The Ravaged Land, published by Abrams, New York. How did the lake get this hostile? The "salt" in it isn't the regular table variety harvested from seawater, but magmatic limestone that's been forged deep in the Earth, poured out in runny lava flows and blasted into the air to become ash clouds 10 miles high. Water levels fluctuate easily because it's so hot - when the levels drop, the corpses are left behind on the shores, coated in salt, exactly how Brandt found them. The symmetrical cone of Oldoinyo Lengai (3,188 m) rises. Small birds or bats that try and fail to cross the 12- by 30-mile lake fall in, as do insects like beetles and locusts. Natron is an extraordinarily toxic, soda lake (pH of 12) with extensive sodium carbonate salt flats. Flamingos are some of the lucky birds that can make the trip across the lake which is 30-miles wide at its longest point. It's not so bad."If a body falls anywhere else it decomposes very quickly, but on the edge of the lake, it just gets encrusted in salt and stays forever," David Harper, an ecologist at the University of Leicester who has visited Lake Natron four times, told NBC News. But looking out of a hole in the canvas at this bizarre little world it's all funny and miraculous. 'The privilege of that outweighs the discomfort.' Ward agreed, 'I'm not a patient person – I get moody in traffic like everyone. Natron is detoxifying, rash and sunburn relieving, and leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. 'When you're sitting in that little box it is pretty uncomfortable, but you are faced with these amazing sights that have never before been seen with such intimacy,' Aeberhard said. Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 6 customer ratings. ![]() Once the hides were in place, the filmmakers could only climb in and out before sunrise and after sunset, making it necessary to spend up to 12 hours at a time in the tiny space, under the hot sun. Although most human settlements throughout history have formed around lakes and rivers, the barren landscape around Lake Natron tells a clear story of a place. 'We moved the hides in slowly, over a period of two weeks and under the cover of darkness,' Aeberhard said. Natron salt flats skin Its temperature reaches to 120’F and the pH level is 10.5, which can burn the skin and eyes of animals that are not adapted to it. ![]() To film the colony without disturbing the birds Aeberhard and Ward built two 4 x 4ft white canvas hides, camouflaged with a painted flamingo motif. Several salt lakes and salt flats occupy the floor of the depression along with a total length of 50 km and with an average width of 10 km, follow the NW-SE. Named after the mineral found in its waters. 'The flamingos nest in the salt, where they are safe from predators, who would have a picnic in the colony,' Aeberhard said. In northern Tanzania, on the Kenyan border, youll find one of Africas most tranquil lakes: Lake Natron.
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