(In fact, they used to harvest it from dry lake beds - Lake Natron isn't the only lake in Africa that's home to large quantities of naturally occurring natron.) It's both a serious drying agent and anti-bacterial, so immersion in natron can suck all the moisture out of a dead body while simultaneously preserving it against the ravages of microorganisms. That's because it's the mineral salt the ancient Egyptians used as part of their mummification rituals. Natron, the stuff for which the lake is named, should also sound a bit familiar to you. Our results will assist the future sustainable management of Lake Natron and will contribute towards Lesser Flamingo conservation.Perhaps you have recently heard about Tanzania's Lake Natron, a body of water that has become famous on the Internet over the last couple of days because of the work of artist Nick Brandt, who took some eerie, posed photos of the calcified corpses of birds that he found along the lake's shore. Analysis of lake features in the imagery, including the presence of salt islands, has been used to set lower and upper limits to lake areas suitable for flamingo breeding. Comparison to infrequent observations of flamingo breeding at Natron are consistent with the prevailing hypothesis of the importance of receding lake levels. A time series of lake surface area has been produced which shows a high degree of variability in lake levels. In addition, local environmental change and global climate change over the past 50 years have altered the hydrological characteristics of the catchment.Īrchival Landsat imagery (1984–2011) has been used to establish baseline data about the past hydrological variability of the lake by applying the Modified Normalised Difference Water Index (MNDWI). Both developments will significantly alter the hydrology and ecology of the lake and could impact flamingo breeding. Lake Natron is threatened by two proposed developments: a multi-purpose dam, to be built on the Ewaso Ngiro (South) River (45% of the lake's catchment area), and a soda ash extraction factory. The lake is of critical importance as the sole breeding site for East Africa's population of Lesser Flamingos ( Phoeniconaias minor), a species which is classified as near-threatened due to decreasing numbers and limited suitable breeding sites (IUCN). Landsat satellite imagery was used to investigate the ecohydrological sustainability of Tanzania's Lake Natron.
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