“I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were,” Brandt said. A very shallow salt lake is very dangerous for those, who are not adjusted: the temperature can reach 60✬ and its ph level is 10 However, its rare red color makes Lake Natron a very unique and beautiful destination, which can be compared only to Laguna Colorada found in Bolivia. It’s that same salt that mummifies the creatures and preserves them into the calcified, statue-like figures that Brandt stumbled upon on the edge of the lake. “So things that get caught in the lake do die because they just get covered in salt very quickly.” “If you imagine a bird getting water on its feathers it would very quickly be too heavy to fly,” said Harper. It is very, very hot, so water evaporates very quickly, leaving only the crust of salt on the animal.

It’s so caustic that only one type of fish – Tilapia grahami – and certain bacteria can actually live in it.īut it’s the temperature of the air around the lake that seals the fate of these animals. But when they try to land, or even worse, fall in, they become coated with water that has an extremely high concentration of sodium carbonate, a salt-like mineral.

Lake natron tanzania animals