Lake Natron - Turns Animals to Stone

You must have heard the story of King Midas, whatever he touches, it becomes gold, but have you ever heard of such a lake, whoever touches its water, becomes a stone. Today we are going to tell you about a lake which turns animals into stone. The name of this lake is Natron Lake. It is a salt and soda lake in Arusha Region in northern Tanzania. This lake is a maximum of 57 kilometres long and 22 kilometres wide. The surrounding area receives irregular seasonal rainfall, mainly between December and May totalling 800 millimetres per year. Temperatures at the lake are frequently above 40 °C.  When the photographer Nick Brandt first visited lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, the scene there surprised him a lot. He was shocked by the macabre animal statues he saw aligned across its shoreline. He later found out something even more shocking, those were real animals calcified by the lake's alkaline water. High levels of evaporation have left behind natron (sodium carbonate decahydrate) and trona (sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate). Natron, which gives the lake its name. It is a naturally occuring compound found in volcanic ash. It is the same mineral the egyptians used to preserve their mummies. The alkalinity of the lake can reach a pH of greater than 12 and the temperature of the lake can reach 60 °C. No animal can withstand this caustic environment.

Nick Brandt writes in his photo book 'Across the Ravaged Land': "Nobody knows for sure how they died, but it seems that Lake's highly reflective nature caused them to be confused. As a result, they all fell into the water. The quantity of salt and soda in the water is very high. The excessive amount of soda and salt in the water keep these birds dead body safe. 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 wrote, referring to the way he repositioned the animals. "Reanimated, alive again in death." Brandt have compiled the photos of these birds in his book 'Across the Ravaged Land' .Across the Ravaged Land is the third and final volume in Nick Brandt's trilogy of books documenting the disappearing animals of eastern Africa.