![]() ![]() The alkaline level has also increased drastically over the millennia, partially because of the high salinity of ash and lava deposits from Lengai, partially because the lake’s only known outlet is evaporation. Nowhere more than 50cm deep, it has changed shape significantly since that time, largely as a result of volcanic activity associated with the creation of Ol Doinyo Lengai to its immediate south. ![]() Thought to be about 1.5 million years old, Natron is a product of the same tectonic activity that formed the Ngorongoro Highlands and Mount Gelai, the latter being a 2,941m-high extinct volcano that rises from the eastern lakeshore. Then there is the lake itself, a thrillingly primordial phenomenon whose caustic waters are enclosed by a crust of sodden grey volcanic ash and desiccated salt, punctuated by isolated patches of steamy, reed-lined swamp where the hot springs that sustain the lake bubble to the surface. The Natron skyline is dominated by the textbook volcanic silhouette of Ol Doinyo Lengai, which rises more than 2km above the surrounding Rift Valley floor to an altitude of 2,960m, its harsh black contours softened by an icing of white ash that glistens brightly below the sun, as if in parody of Kilimanjaro’s snows. And so, too, is the most northerly landmark in the Tanzanian Rift Valley, the low-lying Lake Natron, a shallow sliver of exceptionally alkaline water that extends southward from the Kenyan border near Mount Shompole for 58km. ![]() Ethiopia’s Danakil Desert is one such spot the volcanic Virunga Range in the Albertine Rift is another. Other animals which inhabit this area are zebra, ostrich, fringed eared oryx, gazelle, gerenuk, lesser kudu and golden jackal.There are but a handful of places where the Rift Valley evokes its geologically violent origins with graphic immediacy. Because the flamingos use this area for breeding the lake and its surrounding is under the International concern for preservation. The flamingos of lake Natron feed with the lakes Spirulina algae. They build their nests using the soda flats between August and October. The lake is a breeding place for thousands of Rift Valley Flamingos. Some of the activities at Lake Natron are swimming, a visit to Maasai boma or a simple trek to the Ngorongoro Crater Highlands with numerous craters. Among the most prominent attractions of Lake Natron is the Gelai Volcano, a 2,942 m (9,652 feet) high volcano in the southeastern part, and the archeological site of Peninj, where archeologists discovered the Peninj Mandible – the fossilized teeth of Australopithecus boisei. The area around the lake offers different attractions such as a large number of volcanic implosion craters, numerous waterfalls and ravines with nesting places for Rüppell's Griffon Vultures. The surface of Lake Natron, which has high salt, magnesite and sodium carbonate concentration, is covered with a pinkish-white soda crust. The shallow and alkaline lake has different springs, the Ewaso Ng'iro River and different hot springs. Lake Natron covers an area 56 km (35 miles) long and 24 km (15 miles) wide but the water level changes due to evaporation. The lake is in the vicinity of Ol Doinyo Lengai, which is visible on the southern part. Lake Natron is situated in northern Tanzania on the border with Kenya, close to the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
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