With binoculars you will probably be able to spot hundreds of nesting mounds on the shimmering water surface. For reasons as yet unexplained – perhaps because they are safe from enemies here – flamingos use the muddy, hostile lake region as a breeding ground. As mentioned above, these spirulina algae form the food basis for flamingos, which appear in huge flocks during and after the rainy season. The reproduction of these algae depends on the salt concentration in the water the salt concentration is again determined by the intensity of the rainfall. Above all, it is the blue-green algae of the genus Spirulina that multiply very well in the warm, alkaline water. In addition to the purple bacteria, a whole range of microorganisms and algae also thrive in this alkaline brine solution, which is about 40 degrees Celsius warm. Purple bacteria have coloured the water as a whole in an extensive red-brown to purple-violet colour. Large, solid soda floes have formed on the surface and are floating on the lake. Further out in the lake, where the water is deeper, there are spiral-shaped geysers – often several hundred metres in diameter – that produce hot saturated soda lye. These are coloured red at their edges, partly by purple bacteria. from a higher location huge honeycomb structures can be seen.
Lake natron safari crack#
At the edge, where the lake bottom has dried up, it ruptures and at the crack sites soda (=secondary sodium carbonate) is pressing down, so that e.g. As soon as the water level falls, the lake immediately divides into two areas, with a large northern half and a much smaller southern half. Accordingly, the area of the soda lake varies between 800 square kilometres at the end of the rainy season and one square kilometre towards the end of the dry season, depending on how much rain has fallen in the region. Sometimes the shallow lake dries up completely and leaves a white salt crust.
At the height of the dry season it can shrink to about 2 km width. In total, the lake is about 60 km long and 20 km wide, but since it is mainly fed by rainfall, its extent varies greatly.
Flamingos are the only more highly developed creatures that can settle in the hot, stuffy world of Lake Natron, thanks to the algae growing rapidly in the fresh water with no runoff. Here it is advisable to wear good sunglasses. The water level shimmers glaringly in the sun and the dried out edges of the lake are covered with a track-white salt crust. However, the heat at the lakeshore is mostly quite oppressive and the air is quite stuffy, as a lot of water evaporates at the lake surface due to the hot climate. This lake is probably one of the most beautiful soda lakes in Africa, situated in the middle of a fascinating desert landscape.
0 kommentar(er)
