Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in Africa's Great Rift Valley. Because of its unique biodiversity, Tanzania added the Lake Natron Basin to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance on July 4, 2001.
The lake is quite shallow, less...
than three meters deep, and varies in width depending on its water level.
The lake is the only breeding area for the 2.5 million endangered Lesser Flamingoes that live in the valley. As salinity increases, so do the number of cyanobacteria, and the lake can support more nests. The temperatures in the mud can reach 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit). Even more amazing than the ability of the flamingoes to live in these conditions is the fact that an endemic species of fish, the alkaline tilapia, thrives in the waters at the edges of the hot spring inlets.
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